Ai Fascinated

Hello everyone,

I would have loved to make a post celebrating reaching the 100K subscribers milestone. Thank you all so much. Truly. But there is trouble in paradise.


A few days ago, I received an email from YouTube saying my channel was demonetized, claiming my content is “inauthentic,” “unoriginal,” or “mass-produced,” which could not be further from the truth. Receiving this right as I was completely burnt out from working on the channel truly felt like a joke.


I have spent thousands of hours making videos for my channel. For the past year and a half, this has been my whole life. It is not something I casually generate and throw online.I run out of ideas, I rebuild, I edit, I experiment, I obsess over sound, mood, visuals, pacing, worlds, details, and atmosphere. This channel is my passion, my work, and it was my main source of income.


The payouts were never huge. But I was okay with that as long as I could keep building this fascinating little retro-future universe for you.

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So, while I was already completely burnt out, I took a few full days of work to make an appeal video. In this video, I filmed myself talking to the camera and showed the hard work that goes into making my videos by going through all the software I use and all the steps involved: generating thousands of images one by one, then meticulously cherry-picking and editing the specific ones I want to feature, then the animation part where I showed exactly how I upload each image one by one into different AI animation tools and rerun them many times until I get as close as possible to what I want.

Then I showed how I generate and edit my music from text prompts using other AI tools, and finally I showed how I do my montages manually and meticulously, choosing the order of the visual story and synchronizing large portions of my videos with the beat of the music.

A few days later, I received an email telling me my appeal was rejected.

So it seems that someone watched my appeal video, which proves that I manually made all my videos by showing screen recordings of the whole process, including all my Premiere Pro projects with the dates, and still decided that my videos are repetitive and automated. Without even saying exactly what I did wrong or which videos are affected, they just said that much of my content looks automated.


So I really don’t know what to do now. It’s crazy to me that we live in a world where you can work extremely hard for years, and when you’re on the brink of starting to make a normal living doing your passion, someone takes it away from you because they fail to see your hard work.

I also know I’m not alone in this. Many AI creators whose work I truly admire have encountered the same problem.


There seems to be a real misunderstanding between genuinely crafted AI-assisted work and actual low-effort automated content. A long-form video takes me between 30 and 100 hours to make, and even a short takes me between 5 and 10 hours.


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I will be appealing the decision again and trying my best for YouTube to recognize the work, originality, and care that goes into this channel. I truly hope this can be resolved, but while I wait, this puts me in a very difficult situation.


If you want to support me and help keep the channel going, I’ve set up a Patreon:



www.patreon.com/c/AiFascinated



On Patreon, I’ll slowly be sharing the full archive of all the videos I’ve ever made, along with edited and remastered .wav audio tracks from my videos for you to download and enjoy.


I’ll also be making exclusive content for Patreon supporters, including exclusive videos, a few tutorial videos, stills from my videos, moodboards, prompts, behind-the-scenes material, and more. It will be a place where I can share more of the process, the worldbuilding, and the pieces that don’t always make it to YouTube.


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After trying many different niches, I finally found the world that feels right for me: the 1950s/60s retro-future universe you’ve been seeing most on the channel, but as my very own alternate version of it.


I have so many more ideas for expanding it into a full retro sci-fi universe, with stories, dialogue, characters, proper series, and eventually even films.



But right now, I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to keep going.



Still, I won’t stop trying. I finally found something I truly want to do, and I’ll fight to keep doing it. I’ll appeal, I’ll explain, and I hope YouTube will see the hard work behind this channel and restore monetization. And if they don’t, I hope I can find another way to keep creating and sharing this world with you.


Even if you can’t support me on Patreon, just being here, watching, commenting, sharing, and believing in the channel means more than you know.


Thank you so much for watching, for subscribing, for supporting, and for being part of this universe.


I love you all.
‪@aifascinated‬

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 904

Ai Fascinated

Smash or Zap: Episode 1 – Who Will You Save?

7 months ago | [YT] | 47

Ai Fascinated

Wich picture would You choose?

The one with the most votes will be edited, animated, and featured in my next Space Age video — a calm & relaxing one this time 🪐✨

Prompt before variations:
1960s retro sci-fi, captured on Panavision 70 mm cinematic camera, photorealistic. Midrange frontal: mesmerizing red-haired woman in a luminous gold bodysuit hovering serenely above an outdoor futuristic cinema, friends seated nearby watching a retro-futuristic film projection

8 months ago | [YT] | 51

Ai Fascinated

🌱 Which Alien Flora exploration scene is your favorite?
The one with the most votes will be edited, animated, and featured in my next Space Age video — a calm & relaxing one this time 🪐✨

Prompt before variations:
Screengrab from a cheerful 1950s Technicolor sci-fi epic filmed on IMAX 70 mm, dynamic jungle composition: two glamorous retro explorers in polka dot skirts and tied crop tops, clear bubble helmets reflecting the sky, laugh and grin as multiple glowing vines coil around their torsos, legs, and arms, holding them firmly in place; giant fronds and alien pods frame the scene, deep blue sky with soft clouds above, Technicolor pulpy sci-fi energy.

9 months ago | [YT] | 31

Ai Fascinated

Which Alien Shopkeeper scene is your favorite?
The one with the most votes will be edited, animated, and featured in my next Space Age video — a calm & relaxing one this time 🪐✨

I generated these 4 images with slight parameter variations. I’m planning to run about 20+ polls in total, and the winning scenes will add up to a special fan-chosen segment in my next long-form video!

Initial prompt before variations:
Screengrab from a cheerful 1950s Technicolor sci-fi epic filmed on IMAX 70 mm, lively midrange shot: a squat teal alien with round cheeks and oversized retro goggles leans over a holo-betting kiosk, handing a glowing slip to a smiling human man while two women in polka dot skirts watch with joy, stadium arches pulsing neon light behind, Technicolor pulpy spectacle.

9 months ago | [YT] | 26

Ai Fascinated

Which Alien Carnivorous plant scene is your favorite?
The one with the most votes will be edited, animated, and featured in my next Space Age video — a calm & relaxing one this time 🪐✨

I generated these 4 images with slight parameter variations. I’m planning to run about 20+ polls in total, and the winning scenes will add up to a special fan-chosen segment in my next long-form video!

Initial prompt before variations:
Screengrab from a cheerful 1950s Technicolor sci-fi epic filmed on IMAX 70 mm, dynamic jungle shot: a handsome retro explorer in a silver space jacket laughs as a gigantic alien flower with teeth-like petals clamps over his bubble helmet, while his companion, a stunning woman in a golden latex crop top and pastel skirt, pulls him free while grinning; massive alien fronds frame the scene, glowing spores float in air, retro Technicolor sci-fi joy.

9 months ago | [YT] | 31

Ai Fascinated

👉 Which picture is your favorite?
The one with the most votes will be edited, animated, and featured in my next Space Age video — a calm & relaxing one this time 🪐✨

I generated these 4 images with slight parameter variations. I’m planning to run about 20+ polls in total, and the winning scenes will add up to a special fan-chosen segment in my next long-form video!

PROMPT USED:
Real movie grab with real human actors and real robots: Screengrab from a 1950s Technicolor sci-fi film shot on IMAX 70 mm, midrange, real footage. Two beautiful women in sparkly rainbow skirts and flawless vintage curls laugh and twirl with three towering retro robots — one gold robot with spinning radar dishes, one metallic pink robot with bright lights, and one glossy blue robot with moving gears. They dance together in a radiant alien garden with colossal crystal flowers and colorful alien rocks under a bright sky, all props real, bright mood, no cartoon, no CGI, no animation.

9 months ago | [YT] | 61

Ai Fascinated

🎉 77,777 subscribers! 🎉
Now that’s a *very* cool screenshot 😅 Thank you all so much for the support!! 🧡

My next long-form video is almost done — can’t wait to share it with you (probably tomorrow!) 🚀🪐

9 months ago | [YT] | 44

Ai Fascinated

Hello :) I spent a few days last month setting up an online shop to sell framed posters of my favorite shots from the Futures of The Past series!
I initially wanted to distribute trading cards boosters but after some research I deemed it a bit too complicated for me to set-up (for now...😏)

So, instead I chose to do numbered, limited-edition posters with an acrylite glass and painted wood frames. Featuring pictures that I polished a bit in Midjourney and Photoshop and upscaled to 8K. And also some calendars 🤷‍♂️

I made the website/products using Printful and Shopify which are the market leaders in print on demand and e-commerce. I just received the test products (pictures below) that I ordered to myself to evaluate the quality. And since it is insanely good, I launched the shop yesterday 👍 I already ordered a few others and I'll post the pictures when received!


I will look into providing other products like photo-paper posters without a frame, metallic posters and maybe even retro-future sci-fi gadjets or furniture or androids if I can find any 😂🛸🪐
For now, here's a 20% off promo code valid on the whole shop for those reading this:

FASCINATED24
(to enter at checkout)

You can find the shop link on my channel’s homepage or visit it directly here:
futuresofthepast.com/

I'm still shocked that I was able to get this exact URL! 😂

Anyway, it's quite expensive for something that's not food in my opinion but it's the only way for me to provide this quality and to ship wordwide. And I really wanted to offer something tangible in addition to the virtual worlds of the futures of the past, something you can actually hold.

Thanks so much for watching and for ALL your comments which I enjoy reading very much!

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1 year ago (edited) | [YT] | 37