I'm an aviation history YouTuber and filmmaker who shares stories of aircraft, dogfights, & veterans. Subscribe and join over 2,000+ newsletter readers every month!
Share
How AI Slop is Altering World War II History
Published 13 days ago • 4 min read
How bad is it?
AI "Slop Docs" are altering history.
Who could have ever imagined that generative AI would be used for such immoral and negative purposes? Well, pretty much everyone.
For the past two years, anyone who consumes history content online has been dealt an ever-increasing flow of AI-generated "history" content. I use quotations over the word "history" because this content is anything but historical.
One of the many AI "Slop Doc" channels, producing 40-minute "documentary"-style videos every 16 hours on average.
It has begun to fill my own feeds on both YouTube and Facebook, and it appears the problem is only getting worse.
On Facebook, slop creators are publishing semi-historical writeups (that are likely written by AI nowadays) to accompany images that are totally generated by AI. Here is an example of one of the thousands of these posts filling my own feed.
Well, that is a model of the B-17 I haven't seen before. 92 likes. Sad.
But that isn't all—or even the worst of it.
On YouTube, what I am calling "AI Slop Docs" are now popping up literally every minute of every day.
These mass-produced, low-effort videos are totally AI-written, AI-voiced, and AI "animated." Sometimes they use simple regurgitated photos or videos, but they are all surface-level and stock content. But most importantly, many times, they are simply historically false.
And this would not be a problem—if no one were watching them. Unfortunately, take a look at this. This is a wholly made AI "Slop Doc"—with 1.1 million views.
For perspective, that is more than any single video I have produced in the last year. And as I cover in my video that I just released, the entire premise of this slop doc is historically inaccurate. But it doesn't matter—these AI slop farm channels have no accountability, no checks, and no reason not to publish. They simply mass-produce "history" content until something catches fire with YouTube's algorithm and they can monetize their garbage.
This is unfortunately pushing false historical narratives and distorting the truth, as many documentary viewers are struggling to identify legitimate vs. AI sources on the internet. And since YouTube is barely taking any action to prevent this, or even clearly label it as AI, the problem continues.
The theme of my recent video on AI is dispelling a new myth that German Flak crews were "terrified" to fire at Allied aircraft and had an "80%" casualty rate.
Unfortunately, until these platforms put some sort of clear guidelines out that ban this sort of mass-produced content, I am afraid this will only get worse. And I am more afraid that the damage it is doing might be hard to repair.
If you want to see more about my thoughts on this epidemic and how I disprove one of the mass narratives being put forward, you can watch my new video on how AI is changing history below.
And you might be asking, how can we fight this garbage? Well, one thing you can certainly do is to support non-AI content. Something I know is not AI for example, is my new film 10 Good Men. The entire story is told by 10 B-17 veterans that I interviewed in person over the last three years. And their stories are true.
If you are interested, we have added some new shows to the 10 Good Men schedule of the past few weeks. I really hope you guys will come out and see it in theaters! Especially at the showings I will be attending, like the National Museum of the Mighty 8th in Savannah, GA - or Burn's Court Cinema in Sarasota, FL - or the greatest event we may ever run: The Fox Tucson on August 7th featuring TWO veterans from the film! We have partnered with the 390th Memorial Museum to bring this event to life, and we are so excited to share it with you and a couple of the actual veterans from 10 Good Men!
Glendale, CA - November 4th (Event to be announced soon!)
Additional screenings to be added soon in Chicago, Seattle, and other locations. Check back soon on the Where to Watch page on the 10 Good Men website for more dates!
Thank you to all the great fans who came out to the showing in Pensacola, Florida last week! Loved meeting with all of you and sharing the story of 10 Good Men.
Finally, in some other encouraging news, I am about to head out to interview a local veteran that I was able to find! He is a B-24 ball turret gunner and flew 33 missions with the 15th Air Force during World War II! I am so excited, as these guys have gotten so hard to find as of late.
I will have more updates for you guys soon about how it goes! Thanks so much to the supporters who help to fund these interviews on the TJ3 History Patreon. You guys are truly allowing me to do this. Talk soon, and hope to see you guys at the upcoming shows!
-Your grateful friend, TJ
P.S.—last-second update. Just as I was about to send out this email to you guys, I noticed one of the channels mentioned in my YouTube video on AI slop has now changed its channel completely. I believe he has deleted a large number of videos and has now changed his username from RogerRoger5555 to VietnamVet5555—lovely. Now they are probably stealing valor.
This channel was called "RogerRoger5555" two days ago and was mass-producing AI slop history content (as I show in my video). Now they deleted all their videos and changed their name. Interesting change.
Please reply with your thoughts or feedback here! Here's to saving more history together.
I'm an aviation history YouTuber and filmmaker who shares stories of aircraft, dogfights, & veterans. Subscribe and join over 2,000+ newsletter readers every month!
the most confused battlefield in history THE BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA "Without a doubt, May 7, 1942, vicinity of Coral Sea, was the most confused battle area in world history." - U.S. Vice Admiral Duckworth I just released only my second YouTube video in the last two months. Let's talk about why it has taken so long and what has gone into making it. These two productions have taken weeks because they have both been a part of a single massive project—an all-encompassing documentary on the...
Where to watch the final b-17 story 10 GOOD MEN | New Screenings Added! Whew... *wipes sweat from head* I'm not going to lie to you guys. This is some really hard work. Haha. But it will be worth it if we can tell this story! After weeks of effort, I am happy to announce some fantastic new screening locations and dates for 10 Good Men! It is important to remember: typically, the "film" industry is dominated by a handful of studios that produce whatever they want. And Hollywood is not exactly...
Where to watch the final b-17 story 10 GOOD MEN | World Premiere and First Screening Dates Set! The first screening dates for 10 Good Men are officially set! After weeks of effort, we finally have the first locations and dates for 10 Good Men showings. We are working hard to book more, and in the coming weeks, we expect to double or triple the current list of showings. But for now, I want to make sure all of you have the list of events, especially the World Premiere ticket link! Here is the...