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Comment by bwfan123 | Hacker News Reader

I immediately skip all youtube ads that are AI generated, and I can easily spot them. Not just that, I am planning to actively avoid those brands that are doing this. A small way to send a message that this form of AI sucks. In addition, I make it a point to compliment humans that assist me in customer support, and ask them to tell their management that they need to hire more humans.

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The problem is that your principled opposition to these ads by voting with your wallet does nothing. The advantage to the advertiser is that AI allows them to vomit out ads even more cheaply and to make even more micro-targeted versions of them, and the greater number of suckers sold to more than offsets principled opposers.

The real solution would be the ability to block AI-generated adverts completely in your browser, forcing advertisers to send you non-AI ads if they want your attention.

The real solution is blocking all ad tech. I'll show anyone who asks me how to set up an ad blocker in a decent browser.

> The real solution would be the ability to block AI-generated adverts

To speak from a cynical step further along the spectrum (e.g. "aacktually the real real problem is...") I submit that "voting with your eyeballs" is just a weaker form of "voting with your wallet", which is itself often a behavioral trap [0] that isn't effective and mainly exists to dis-empower the public.

In other words, blocking the adverts would be nice, but unless it's part of an organized boycott it probably won't affect much either.

[0] https://pluralistic.net/2026/05/21/purity-culture/

The real solution is to stop using YouTube.

> I immediately skip all youtube ads that are AI generated

Why not skip all of them?

> I can easily spot them

You don't know which ones you can't spot.

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