根据Pew的最新数据，过去五年中YouTube在2岁以下儿童中的增长幅度为所有未成年群体中最高，已有超过60%的美国2岁以下儿童观看YouTube，且其中逾三分之一每天观看；Fairplay的2025年调查显示，在使用屏幕的婴幼儿中有70%使用YouTube或YouTube Kids。创作者利用AI生成“简单、重复”的1至3岁内容，声称每天可赚数百美元，只需完成约5%的人工工作。自2019年FTC和解案后YouTube Kids禁止定向广告，主要变现路径转向有限广告、YouTube Premium与主站儿童内容广告，推动AI低成本量产模式扩散。
医学与儿童发展专家警告，儿童大脑在5岁前完成约90%的发育，低质量AI内容可能影响语言、社交、情绪与辨别真伪能力。AAP建议2岁以下儿童的媒介使用应“极度有限”。部分家长报告，他们的2岁与6岁孩子接触到高度刺激、节奏极快的AI视频，且主站仍可能因使用成人账号而在儿童视频旁出现政治类广告；部分教育类视频长达3至4小时，超过普遍建议的每日观看时长。YouTube表示“批量制造低质量内容不是可行策略”，并称系统会惩罚重复与不真实内容，同时强调并非所有AI内容都是“slop”。
平台结构进一步增加辨识难度：算法主导推荐，创作者匿名度高，缩略图与标题风格一致，使得知名内容与来源不明的视频混杂呈现。多名已获YouTube认证的创作者制作教程，教授如何利用AI复制Cocomelon式成功或生成吸睛缩略图，进一步激励规模化生产。专家指出许多视频“主要为吸引注意力而非讲述内容”，而家长仍需在监管有限、动机商业化的环境中自行判断。
According to new Pew data, YouTube use among children under 2 has risen more than in any other youth cohort over the past five years, with more than 60% of US children under 2 watching the platform and over one-third doing so daily; Fairplay’s 2025 survey shows 70% of screen-using infants rely on YouTube or YouTube Kids. Creators use AI to generate “simple, repetitive” content for 1- to 3-year-olds, claiming earnings of hundreds of dollars per day while doing roughly 5% of the work. After YouTube Kids banned targeted ads in a 2019 FTC settlement, monetization shifted to limited ads, YouTube Premium, and ads on children’s content on the main site, fueling expansion of low-cost AI content production.
Medical and child-development experts warn that children’s brains are about 90% developed by age 5, and low-quality AI media may affect language, social, emotional, and truth-discrimination abilities. The AAP recommends “very limited” media use for children under 2. Parents report their 2- and 6-year-olds encountering ultrafast, highly stimulating AI videos, and political ads can appear alongside children’s videos when viewed on adult accounts; some “educational” videos run 3 to 4 hours, exceeding typical recommended daily viewing. YouTube says “mass-producing low-quality content is not viable,” asserting that its systems penalize repetitive and inauthentic media and that not all AI content is “slop.”
Platform structure heightens difficulty of discernment: recommendations are algorithm-driven, creators are often anonymous, and thumbnails and titles look similar across vetted and obscure videos. Multiple YouTube-verified creators publish tutorials teaching how to mimic Cocomelon-style success or generate click-optimizing thumbnails, incentivizing scaled production. Experts note that many videos are “engineered for attention rather than meaningful content,” leaving parents to navigate a commercially driven environment with limited oversight.