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community weblog
AI history slop docs
How Bad is AI History Content?
posted by Pendragon on Oct 24, 2026 at 6:12 AM
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Ooo! One of my very first experiences with Google A.I. results told me about a plane crash at a Chicago air show that was entirely hallucinated, no crash occurred that year and the names of the people "involved" were a mish-mosh.
This looks interesting, thanks!
posted by tiny frying pan at 6:36 AM
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To reiterate a past comment, affix "before:2024" to search queries to circumvent the era of AI slop when doing a deep dive on a subject.
I nerd out on a lot of history channel content, and YT's algorithm is constantly forcing AI slop down my gullet. Some are more sophisticated than others. Almost got tricked by one when I was trying to learn more about the UK to Australia pipeline during the 1850s gold rush, and the animated graphic showing the ship route careened across the African continent and I noped the hell out.
Always check the date.
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 7:10 AM
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Wired has been doing a bunch of slop history fact checks. AI would be a pretty good tool for such applications, however, the ease of cranking out such videos means these results are very low effort garbage that aren't even worth watching for laughs.
posted by 2N2222 at 7:27 AM
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I remember, not long after the internet started really taking off, that there was discussion about how any event that happened before the invention of the internet might be lost to time, as if it's not available for reference on the primary search tool of ordinary people, it effectively doesn't exist. We've ameliorated that to a degree, by the dedicated efforts of archivists, but there's still oodles more written about things that happened after the birth of the Internet than before. The weight of that affects perception, to be sure.
What we didn't anticipate, however, is that there would be a cut off date in the future, as well, beyond which there would be ample written, but such a small percentage of it reliable enough to trust. I don't think we're at that cut off yet, but we are potentially speeding towards it.
Here lies
Human Knowledge
At least, what we can reliably piece together.
1996-2028
posted by Imperfect at 7:44 AM
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I'd expect relying on AI history to be about as bad as outsourcing your philosophy to AI.
History is not a list of facts, it's the lens through which you understand the world and your place in it. What kinds of facts matter, and how are they systematically organized? Hallucinations I could live with. AI makes errors of emphasis that are far more serious. WWII documentaries about how planes were designed are missing the point whether or not they are accurate in detail if they're missing the feminist history of how the Allies built so many planes. Right now, AI will strongly guide you toward ball turret placement videos.
Fact checks? Someone who thinks the battle of Blair mountain happened in 1975 might have a more trustworthy sense of history than someone who isn't broadly aware that labour history is important.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:52 AM
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> about how any event that happened before the invention of the internet might be lost to time
Like when history becomes archaeology?
posted by AlSweigart at 9:14 AM
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there's still oodles more written about things that happened after the birth of the Internet than before
Wait, what?
posted by mini caesar salad virtual workshop at 9:46 AM
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This is the last great age of man
Before the digital storm.
Every book is a tombstone.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 9:50 AM
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I keep reading that last line as "Every book is a trombone."
posted by heatherlogan at 10:29 AM
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sad and lonely
posted by philip-random at 11:01 AM
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I remember, not long after the internet started really taking off, that there was discussion about how any event that happened before the invention of the internet might be lost to time, as if it's not available for reference on the primary search tool of ordinary people, it effectively doesn't exist. Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.
...
And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.
George Orwell, 1984
posted by kirkaracha at 11:37 AM
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I really enjoy watching random documentaries on youtube, but the AI slop is making it hard to find real content.
I think the slop has been improving quite a bit since the linked video came out. I avoid the obvious garbage, but there are now videos which appear plausible and I can't tell they're AI for a few minutes.
Signs I look for:
1. Summary repetition. Whatever the "point" of the video is will get repeated with every chapter of the video. Something like "he shot at 900 yards when nobody else would, going against his training and scoring kills that would have otherwise been impossible."
2. Inconsistent pronunciation of nouns such as place names. Martinez for instance can be mart-in-ez or mar-teen-ez. The voiceover in slop videos will often use different pronunciations randomly.
3. Obvious garbage. Impossible/blatantly wrong motion presented as reality.
When I run across these (which seem to be more common than real content at this point) I give the video a thumbs down and then select the "don't recommend channel" option. Hopefully that helps decrease its chances of being recommended to other viewers.
Youtube has been an amazing resource for years now. It's sad to see it being degraded by slop. Once in a while I see a video with some sort of AI warning, but 99% of the slop doesn't seem to have it. Sadly, even if they start putting real resources into labeling/not recommending/demonitizing slop, I expect it'll become an endless arms race between the slop creators and the platform.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 11:38 AM
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yeah, I keep getting pushes from Youtube to opt for their Premium service, no ads etc. But I just don't trust them, so I lean toward ad blocks (and related) which tend to do a very good job ... most of the time.
Maybe if Youtube made it policy to at the very least* identify AI up front (a proper content warning), I might consider paying a few bucks.
* I say "the very least", because what I'd like to see is AI slop getting outright banned -- certainly demonetized. Or if needs be, give it its own channel. SLOPTUBE
posted by philip-random at 12:11 PM
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Entertainment in general can suck at history content. There are tons of "history" movies and have been for some time, and many take liberties with the truth. Granted that you kind if have to do that when you're adapting an actual event into a 2 hour movie, but sometimes the filmmaker is trying to Make A Point instead of being factual, and that can get wild (the Western They Died With Their Boots On actually depicts Custer as SUPPORTING the Sioux).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:26 PM
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Youtube has had slop for years. Getting worked up because it's AI is just stupid. AI created video is nothing more than fancy CGI made accessible to the masses. The information being conveyed is what's important. Low effort videos that contain bad information have been there since the start, and will still be there even if AI were somehow magically banned.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:32 PM
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> I keep reading that last line as "Every book is a trombone."
A sad tombstone.
posted by at by at 12:32 PM
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> There are tons of "history" movies and have been for some time, and many take liberties with the truth.
"Many" seems generous. Which ones haven't?
> Low effort videos that contain bad information have been there since the start, and will still be there even if AI were somehow magically banned.
AI makes up for it in volume. Five years ago, the bad-information videos could only be churned out at a slightly faster rate than the good-information videos. In 2026, in the time it takes ten people to make ten carefully fact-checked videos, one dipshit spending their tokens like water can flood the channel and completely take over the recommendation list on a given topic.
posted by at by at 12:36 PM
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There's nothing that can stop a torrent of AI-generated spam and slop content from destroying the entire internet.
Well, except for a $5 lifetime account fee.
posted by AlSweigart at 1:18 PM
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YouTube would be a thousand times better if they had allowlisting -- "don't show me anything that's not on this list of channels" -- but I guess they wouldn't make money in sufficient bushels if they let you block 99.999 percent of their content.
Apparently, however, there are third-party extensions that implement this. I haven't tried any, so caveat emptor, but here's an example.
posted by pracowity at 1:21 PM
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AI created video is nothing more than fancy CGI made accessible to the masses.
You know the (fake) Stalin line about quantity and quality?
posted by atoxyl at 1:37 PM
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justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow: "History is not a list of facts, it's the lens through which you understand the world and your place in it. What kinds of facts matter, and how are they systematically organized? Hallucinations I could live with. AI makes errors of emphasis that are far more serious. WWII documentaries about how planes were designed are missing the point whether or not they are accurate in detail if they're missing the feminist history of how the Allies built so many planes. Right now, AI will strongly guide you toward ball turret placement videos.
"
This is a hugely important point that almost no one is talking about. The erasure of women and minorities has a whole new fresh wave of energy from the selfish men who WANT to rewrite the world, our history, our assumptions, our biases. This is their chance to do it all over again, with A.I.
posted by tiny frying pan at 5:33 AM
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