My personal consumption of YT has dropped pretty sharply - I only go on there for specific content that I personally pick out myself. The recommendations have become really bad progressively IME over the past 2 years.

I think they've tiktokified everything, hoping to catch you with some bait. Including the search results page, you get maybe 5 relevant videos and then the viral stuff.

I say "I think" because I've also ended up activating the content filter in my brain and stopping myself from looking further when I notice "Oh this part of the site has viral infection". Perhaps it's better with history enabled?

I've had so many AI-created movie trailers on youtube lately it is so annoying. Just yesterday I searched for an upcoming movie "The Chronology of Water" trailer and get this fake ai trailer which I watched unknowingly thinking "wow this trailer sucks" just to later find the disclaimer "Please note that this video is a concept trailer created solely for artistic and entertainment purposes. I have meticulously incorporated various effects, sound design, AI technologies, film analytics, and other elements to bring my vision to life."