Movie Studios Financially Benefit from AI-Generated Content on YouTube

It's come to light that some Hollywood giants, including Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Sony Pictures, are apparently making a quick buck off AI-generated fake movie trailers on YouTube. Instead of cracking down on these misleading videos, they're reportedly redirecting the ad revenue to their own pockets. This move has not sat well with the SAG-AFTRA union, which has slammed these studios for profiting from content that uses AI to exploit their members' likenesses without any permission.

Fanmade trailers have been around forever, but with the advent of AI tools like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo, anyone can now whip up convincing fake content. YouTube is practically drowning in this AI-generated stuff, and while studios could easily slap these accounts with copyright strikes, they seem more interested in cashing in on the views rather than cleaning up the platform.

Take Screen Culture, for instance, which boasts a whopping 1.4 million subscribers and nearly 1.4 billion channel views. KH Studio isn’t far behind with 683,000 subscribers and 560 million views. These channels create fake trailers by mixing clips from actual movies or TV shows with AI-generated material. Some of these trailers mimic unreleased films like *Superman* and *Jurassic World: Rebirth*, while others invent entirely new TV seasons, movie sequels, or adaptations of beloved franchises.

Just two days after *Deadline* exposed this scheme, YouTube pulled the plug on Screen Culture and KH Studio's ability to monetize their clickbait content. The channels were booted from YouTube's partner program for breaking the platform's monetization rules, which prohibit content that's "duplicative or repetitive" or created just to rack up views. Plus, creators need to significantly alter any borrowed material, and YouTube's misinformation policies don't allow for content that can mislead viewers—like these fake trailers that could easily be mistaken for the real deal.

Both channels have the option to appeal YouTube's decision to halt their ad revenue. Interestingly, KH Studio has already tweaked its approach; instead of calling their videos "first trailers," the latest uploads are now labeled "concept trailers."

Discovering that studios are choosing to profit from this AI-generated mess rather than safeguarding actors' likenesses must be a bitter pill to swallow for SAG-AFTRA members. They've fought hard to get AI consent clauses into their contracts, and this news feels like a slap in the face.

In a statement to *Deadline*, SAG-AFTRA expressed their frustration: “Just as SAG-AFTRA is aggressively bargaining contract terms and creating laws to protect and enforce our members’ voice and likeness rights, we expect our bargaining partners to aggressively enforce their IP from any, and all AI misappropriation. Monetizing unauthorized, unwanted, and subpar uses of human-centered IP is a race to the bottom. It incentivizes technology companies and short-term gains at the expense of lasting human creative endeavor.”