YouTube: Fingernails on a Blackboard
January 22, 2026
I read “From the CEO: What’s Coming to YouTube in 2026.” Yep, fingernails on a blackboard. Let’s take a look at a handful of the points in this annual letter to the world. Are advertisers included? No. What about regulators? No. What about media parters? Uh, no.
To whom is the leter addressed? I think it is to the media who report about YouTube, which, as the letter puts it, is “the epicenter of culture. ” Yeah, okay, maybe. The letter is also addressed to “creatives.” I think this means the people who post their content to YouTube in the hopes of making big money. Plus, some of the observations are likely to be aimed at those outfits who have the opportunity to participate in the YouTube cable TV clone service.
Okay, let’s begin the dragging of one’s fingernails down an old-school blackboard.
First, one of my instructors at Oxon Hill Primary School (a suburb of Washington, DC) told me, “Have a strong beginning.” Here’s what the Google YouTube pronouncement offers:
YouTube has the scale, community, and technological investments to lead the creative industry into this next era.
Notice, please, that Google is not providing search. It is not a service. YouTube will “lead the creative industry.” That an interesting statement from a company a court has labeled a monopoly. Monopolies don’t lead; they control and dictate. Thanks, Google, your intentions are admirable… for you. For a person who wants to write novels, do investigative reporting, or sculpt, you are explaining the way the world will work.
Here’s another statement that raised little goose bumps on my dinobaby skin:
we remain committed to protecting creative integrity by supporting critical legislation like the NO FAKES Act.
I like the idea that YouTube supports legislation it perceives as useful to itself. I want to point out that Google has filed to appeal the decision that labeled the outfit a monpoly. Google also acts in an arbitrary manner which makes it difficult for those who alleged a problem with Google cannot obtain direct interaction with the “YouTube team.” Selective rules appear to be the way forward for YouTube.
Finally, I want to point out a passage that set my teeth on edge like a visit to the dentist in Campinas, Brazil, who used a foot-peddled drill to deal with a cavity afflicting me. That was fun, just like using YouTube search, YouTube filters, or the YouTube interfaces. Here’s the segment from the statement of YouTube in 2026:
To reduce the spread of low quality AI content, we’re actively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low quality, repetitive content.
Whoa, Nellie or Neil! Why can’t the AI champions at Gemini / DeepMind let AI identify “slop” and label it. A user could then choose, slop or no slop? I think I know the answer. Google’s AI cannot identify slop even though Google AI generates it. Furthermore, my Google generated YouTube recommendations present slop to me and suggest videos I have already viewed. These missteps illustrate that Google will not spend the money to deal with these problems, its smart software cannot deal with these problems, or clicks are more important than anything other than cost cutting. Google and YouTube are the Henry Ford of the AI slop business.
What do Neal’s heartfelt, honest, and entitled comments mean to me, a dinobaby? I shall offer some color about how I interpreted the YouTube statement about 2026:
- The statement dictates.
- The comments about those who create content strike me as self serving, possibly duplicitous
- The issue of slop becomes a “to do” with no admission of being a big part of the problem.
Net net: Google you are definitely Googlier than in 2025.
Stephen E Arnold, January 22, 2026
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