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Every YouTube ad I see now is an AI-generated scam ad hawking everything from free electricity to anti-aging products to birdhouses hand-carved by an AI-generat

Every YouTube ad I see now is an AI-generated scam ad hawking everything from free electricity to anti-aging products to birdhouses hand-carved by an AI-generated senior citizen. I've seen some multiple times, days or weeks apart. Their advertising standards are a complete joke.

johng 13d ago
This senior citizen doing stuff got me. I bought a pair of cow slippers because I thought he was making them from his farm in Australia. Turns out they use that same "character" to hawk multiple products.
- mbirth 13d ago
  YouTuber Pleasant Green has several videos about all those fake ads making rounds. The one about fake old people is this one: https://youtube.com/watch?v=f9MbhNJ5EIU https://youtube.com/watch?v=f9MbhNJ5EIU
- nkrisc 12d ago
  Unfortunately at this point I assume that everything I see online is fake until I have a good reason to think otherwise.
- Gigachad 12d ago
  Every risk the early AI researchers warned us about came true, the companies released it anyway and here we are.
icoder 13d ago
I've flagged an AI-generated add once that promoted a small device that could cool a hot room (many degrees celcius lower, very quickly, for very little energy and very little money and without external components), defying the laws of thermodynamics. They said they investigated it and concluded it did not break any rules and no actions where taken.
- sundvor 12d ago
  And they still try to gaslight us into removing our adblockers. No thanks.
- notimetorelax 12d ago
  I guess they missed the rules of physics in their evaluation.
- Pxtl 13d ago
  "Lisa, get in here... in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"
  - acomjean 12d ago
    That was a good one from the simpsons: https://frinkiac.com/comic?b=AQIBBlMwNkUyMafYCwABEvQBygNqSSBrbm93LgpBbmQgdGhpcyBwZXJwZXR1YWwgbW90aW9uIG1hY2hpbmUKc2hlIG1hZGUgdG9kYXkgaXMgYSBqb2tlLgpJdCBqdXN0IGtlZXBzIGdvaW5nIGZhc3RlciBhbmQgZmFzdGVyLgA https://frinkiac.com/comic?b=AQIBBlMwNkUyMafYCwABEvQBygNqSSB...
- Borealid 13d ago
  There do exist "evaporative coolers", sometimes called "swamp coolers". The trick is that they require water and raise the humidity of their surroundings. But they tick all the boxes you listed - plenty of delta-t, extremely low power, no external tubes or parts. It's not magic because it relies on the "fuel" of cool water to evaporate.
  - Spare_account 12d ago
    I'm not the same guy but I can verify that the advert for the impossible micro-evaporative cooler quoted impossible performance capabilities. YouTube adverts frequently contain fraudulent, misleading information. It appears that no law is being broken.
    - Borealid 12d ago
      I can believe that, I'm just here to point out that some of the laws being not-broken are the laws of thermodnamics. You can cool a room cheaply with dry ice, for instance. There are tricks.
unethical_ban 13d ago
I use adblock and on my TV, Youtube Premium. I loaded a stock web browser on VPN and checked Youtube looking for ads. Holy shit, it's all scams. Sample size of three, but not a single ad was a known company or a decent product.
- LooseMarmoset 13d ago
  every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.
- dspillett 13d ago
  > Youtube Premium. I use other means when I must have access to content that is only on youtube. I'm not paying money into a company so happy to allow as much scammy crap as the adverts on there are full off.
  - chadgpt2 12d ago
    [dead]
- princevegeta89 13d ago
  Youtube Premium is so dodgy. It's already expense and even if you get it, they will default to a miserable 480p on Mobile, while you have 1080p60fps available. You can change it manually, but it's a defeat of the entire purpose..they intentionally removed the setting to apply the max. quality available to all videos you watch, while already charging you a monthly subscription for the goddamn premium. What a bunch of goo(gl)ns
- Fnoord 12d ago
  Only my kids use the TV to watch YouTube, and in order to protect them from ads (it is illegal to advertise to children in my country), I block the ads using SmartTube which includes SponsorBlock. Since such is also advertising. Google is a rotten to the core company who's purpose is whitewashing scams and spying on private eyes. Whenever Google talks about 'security' I need to keep in mind their snake tongue definition of 'security' does not align with mine. Such as: combining security updates with (unwanted) new features, play 'integrity' (hurting non-Android devices), DRM not owning my devices (hello?! The pirated content is already available!), something such as manifest V3 which has a different purpose than the one they mention, and hard-coded DNS servers with device (Google Chromecast) refusing to work without.
numpad0 13d ago
There's no standards. AdSense is sort of a paid social media of its own. You sign up and post a tweet, then those tweets get embedded to sites if AI clears it. The key difference between Twitter and AdSense is that you're supposed to be using the latter for your own financial gain. And it just so happens that someone doing something for their personalized financial gain is a super strong negative indicator of everything.
torginus 12d ago
These ads are uncanny valley right now. But imagine, in a year or two, they'll dial it in, and it'll be indistinguishable from actual TV ads.
- nkrisc 12d ago
  Apart for the fact they'll be hawking obvious scam bullshit.
  - harvey9 12d ago
    Not obvious to everyone.
nkrisc 12d ago
The AI-generated video ads are getting really bizarre on YouTube. There's class of them that feature some AI-generated song with AI-generated animated characters. One song began with lyrics about having sex with a Jewish billionaire's wife and learning some secret (at which point I was able to skip the ad) and another is some grotesque looking creature singing about foamy urine. Normally I have an ad-blocker and don't see any ads, but I happened to be using the YouTube app recently on my iPad so I was subjected to this insanity. I guess scammer money is as green as anyone else's.
- pants2 12d ago
  FYI, using YouTube through Brave browser on iPhone/iPad will block ads. Same with Instagram!
- godwinson__4-8 12d ago
  I'm so happy someone else has seen the Jewish billionaire's wife ad it's so weird and no one I know IRL has seen it and if you try to describe to someone in person you sound insane.
  - nkrisc 12d ago
    Makes wonder what kind of absolute batshit crazies it’s supposed to be targeting?
    - godwinson__4-8 12d ago
      I think it's often "medical" cures. I believe the Jewish billionaire's wife's secret was to "longevity". I think the target is the elderly. My understanding is they have always been a frequent target of these sort of internet scams.
lazyant 12d ago
I've seen ads using famous people (as in a Prime Minister) to sell whatever faking the whole thing, how is that even legal

johng 13d ago

This senior citizen doing stuff got me. I bought a pair of cow slippers because I thought he was making them from his farm in Australia. Turns out they use that same "character" to hawk multiple products.

mbirth 13d ago
YouTuber Pleasant Green has several videos about all those fake ads making rounds. The one about fake old people is this one: https://youtube.com/watch?v=f9MbhNJ5EIU https://youtube.com/watch?v=f9MbhNJ5EIU
nkrisc 12d ago
Unfortunately at this point I assume that everything I see online is fake until I have a good reason to think otherwise.
Gigachad 12d ago
Every risk the early AI researchers warned us about came true, the companies released it anyway and here we are.

icoder 13d ago

I've flagged an AI-generated add once that promoted a small device that could cool a hot room (many degrees celcius lower, very quickly, for very little energy and very little money and without external components), defying the laws of thermodynamics. They said they investigated it and concluded it did not break any rules and no actions where taken.

sundvor 12d ago
And they still try to gaslight us into removing our adblockers. No thanks.
notimetorelax 12d ago
I guess they missed the rules of physics in their evaluation.
Pxtl 13d ago
"Lisa, get in here... in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"
- acomjean 12d ago
  That was a good one from the simpsons: https://frinkiac.com/comic?b=AQIBBlMwNkUyMafYCwABEvQBygNqSSBrbm93LgpBbmQgdGhpcyBwZXJwZXR1YWwgbW90aW9uIG1hY2hpbmUKc2hlIG1hZGUgdG9kYXkgaXMgYSBqb2tlLgpJdCBqdXN0IGtlZXBzIGdvaW5nIGZhc3RlciBhbmQgZmFzdGVyLgA https://frinkiac.com/comic?b=AQIBBlMwNkUyMafYCwABEvQBygNqSSB...
Borealid 13d ago
There do exist "evaporative coolers", sometimes called "swamp coolers". The trick is that they require water and raise the humidity of their surroundings. But they tick all the boxes you listed - plenty of delta-t, extremely low power, no external tubes or parts. It's not magic because it relies on the "fuel" of cool water to evaporate.
- Spare_account 12d ago
  I'm not the same guy but I can verify that the advert for the impossible micro-evaporative cooler quoted impossible performance capabilities. YouTube adverts frequently contain fraudulent, misleading information. It appears that no law is being broken.
  - Borealid 12d ago
    I can believe that, I'm just here to point out that some of the laws being not-broken are the laws of thermodnamics. You can cool a room cheaply with dry ice, for instance. There are tricks.

unethical_ban 13d ago

I use adblock and on my TV, Youtube Premium. I loaded a stock web browser on VPN and checked Youtube looking for ads. Holy shit, it's all scams. Sample size of three, but not a single ad was a known company or a decent product.

LooseMarmoset 13d ago
every time I use the Internet on a computer without some sort of ad blocking, I am astounded to learn that there are still people who use the Internet without an ad blocker. The Internet is unusable these days without ublock origin or a pihole.
dspillett 13d ago
> Youtube Premium. I use other means when I must have access to content that is only on youtube. I'm not paying money into a company so happy to allow as much scammy crap as the adverts on there are full off.
- chadgpt2 12d ago
  [dead]
princevegeta89 13d ago
Youtube Premium is so dodgy. It's already expense and even if you get it, they will default to a miserable 480p on Mobile, while you have 1080p60fps available. You can change it manually, but it's a defeat of the entire purpose..they intentionally removed the setting to apply the max. quality available to all videos you watch, while already charging you a monthly subscription for the goddamn premium. What a bunch of goo(gl)ns
Fnoord 12d ago
Only my kids use the TV to watch YouTube, and in order to protect them from ads (it is illegal to advertise to children in my country), I block the ads using SmartTube which includes SponsorBlock. Since such is also advertising. Google is a rotten to the core company who's purpose is whitewashing scams and spying on private eyes. Whenever Google talks about 'security' I need to keep in mind their snake tongue definition of 'security' does not align with mine. Such as: combining security updates with (unwanted) new features, play 'integrity' (hurting non-Android devices), DRM not owning my devices (hello?! The pirated content is already available!), something such as manifest V3 which has a different purpose than the one they mention, and hard-coded DNS servers with device (Google Chromecast) refusing to work without.

numpad0 13d ago

There's no standards. AdSense is sort of a paid social media of its own. You sign up and post a tweet, then those tweets get embedded to sites if AI clears it. The key difference between Twitter and AdSense is that you're supposed to be using the latter for your own financial gain. And it just so happens that someone doing something for their personalized financial gain is a super strong negative indicator of everything.

torginus 12d ago

These ads are uncanny valley right now. But imagine, in a year or two, they'll dial it in, and it'll be indistinguishable from actual TV ads.

nkrisc 12d ago
Apart for the fact they'll be hawking obvious scam bullshit.
- harvey9 12d ago
  Not obvious to everyone.

nkrisc 12d ago

The AI-generated video ads are getting really bizarre on YouTube. There's class of them that feature some AI-generated song with AI-generated animated characters. One song began with lyrics about having sex with a Jewish billionaire's wife and learning some secret (at which point I was able to skip the ad) and another is some grotesque looking creature singing about foamy urine. Normally I have an ad-blocker and don't see any ads, but I happened to be using the YouTube app recently on my iPad so I was subjected to this insanity. I guess scammer money is as green as anyone else's.

pants2 12d ago
FYI, using YouTube through Brave browser on iPhone/iPad will block ads. Same with Instagram!
godwinson__4-8 12d ago
I'm so happy someone else has seen the Jewish billionaire's wife ad it's so weird and no one I know IRL has seen it and if you try to describe to someone in person you sound insane.
- nkrisc 12d ago
  Makes wonder what kind of absolute batshit crazies it’s supposed to be targeting?
  - godwinson__4-8 12d ago
    I think it's often "medical" cures. I believe the Jewish billionaire's wife's secret was to "longevity". I think the target is the elderly. My understanding is they have always been a frequent target of these sort of internet scams.

lazyant 12d ago

I've seen ads using famous people (as in a Prime Minister) to sell whatever faking the whole thing, how is that even legal