How ‘AI slop’ went from viral nonsense to billion-view jackpot
- Shruti Sonal
- TNNUpdated: Feb 21, 2026, 20:50 IST IST
A rather muscular monkey, dressed in a red t-shirt and a red and white chequered gamcha, is taking the internet by storm. In one viral video, he boards an aeroplane for the first time in his life. In another instance, he breaks traffic rules while riding a bike and receives a heavy challan. He has a girlfriend too, and flaunts links to vidhayaks on earth and extraterrestrial beings in the sky.
The monkey is not real, it’s entirely AI-generated. But the millions of subscribers and views that the YouTube channel ‘Bandar Apna Dost’ is raking in are very much real. A recent survey by video editing platform Kapwing suggests it is now the world’s most-viewed ‘AI slop’ channel, earning approximately Rs 36 crore a year from YouTube ads.
The monkey is not real, it’s entirely AI-generated. But the millions of subscribers and views that the YouTube channel ‘Bandar Apna Dost’ is raking in are very much real. A recent survey by video editing platform Kapwing suggests it is now the world’s most-viewed ‘AI slop’ channel, earning approximately Rs 36 crore a year from YouTube ads.
