YouTube
Faceless YouTube Shorts: formats that stay monetizable
Voiceover, screen recording, hands-only and AI visuals, and how to stay on the right side of YouTube's inauthentic content policy.
Platform rules change often. Requirements below were checked against official pages in October 2026; always confirm on the linked source before applying.
Formats
- Voiceover explainers: your script and voice (or an AI voice) over your own footage.
- Screen recordings: tutorials for apps, tools, games.
- Hands-only: cooking, crafts, product demos.
- AI visuals: backgrounds or characters supporting a story you invented.
The policy to know
In July 2025 YouTube renamed its "repetitious content" policy to "inauthentic content", clarifying it covers repetitive or mass-produced content (YouTube monetization policies).
YouTube lists as not monetizable: image slideshows or scrolling text with minimal narrative; and AI-generated content from generic templates that looks mass-produced without your original insight. It lists as allowed: using AI to visualise a unique character and narrative you invented, or to edit scripts and generate a unique background visual (YouTube).
AI personas giving health, legal, financial or political advice as if they were human experts are not allowed to monetize (YouTube).