Popular music reviewer Rick Beato was the first to notice disturbing edits to his appearance in new recordings. Careful analysis revealed effects resembling digital makeup and unnatural image smoothing. Another content creator, Rhett Shull, published a comparison video where his YouTube videos showed an "oil painting" effect and excessive sharpness, making the content look artificial.
YouTube has officially confirmed that it is experimenting with technology to improve the quality of individual Shorts, using machine learning to increase sharpness and reduce noise. However, the platform did not disclose the scale of the testing or the possibility of opting out of this feature. The industry criticizes the lack of transparency and author consent, pointing to the risk of losing authenticity and interfering with someone else's creative work.