Everything is an AI scam now

YouTube and other online platforms are increasingly flooded with AI-generated advertisements for dubious products—from Tai Chi programs promising steroid-like results in 20 days to book-sized air conditioners that cool any room in 90 seconds—with little verification from the platforms that accept them. The problem extends beyond ads: spam emails are now more sophisticated, using tools like ChatGPT to craft tailored pitches, such as one that praised a blackout poetry collection with phrases lifted directly from the author's own website. Scammers only need to convert a tiny fraction of viewers to profit, making the economics of low-quality, AI-produced marketing viable. The trend reflects a broader erosion of truth online, where platforms prioritize ad revenue over accuracy and spam filters no longer catch the flood. What to watch next is whether platforms introduce stricter ad verification or whether consumers simply learn to tune out the noise.