It's Scary How Smart the YouTube Algorithm Has Gotten These Days
Before, it was just at the level of recommending similar topics to what I'd watched a lot, but these days it brings me exactly what I want even when I haven't searched for it.
It's scary, but also convenient... I just keep watching.
Is there a way to turn this off? Like resetting my preferences.
10 answers
True, lately it's been showing me stuff I haven't even searched for.
Try setting your Google account activity data to auto-delete after 3 months. It’s not a full reset, but your old interests gradually drop away. I felt a bit better after doing this.
Honestly, isn't that a bit exaggerated? It's not that the algorithm reads your mind—it's just that you've left behind that much data. Even if you didn't search for it, you probably clicked something similar somewhere, or your dwell time already sorted you in. Before figuring out how to turn it off, it's better to understand why it's showing up.
It's a bit better in incognito mode. When you're not logged in, the recommendations get way dumber.
But when I actually turned off personalized recommendations, it just served up trash videos lol. In the end, I turned it back on. It's convenient, plain and simple.
Me too, it's scary...
That's not just a YouTube problem. It's not search history—data gets transferred because of Chrome or other app login integrations, so separating the accounts themselves or resetting your advertising ID is more effective.
If you go to YouTube Settings → History & Privacy, delete your entire watch history, and turn off personalized recommendations, it gets kind of dumb for a while lol. But after a few days, it’s smart again 😢
The conclusion is that making a new account is the cleanest option. I ditched an account I'd used for 3 years and made a new one, and the first two months were genuinely so clean. Of course, after that it goes back to the same lol. Also, resetting your tastes isn't a complete reset—it gradually builds back up again—so rather than turning off the algorithm in the first place, the answer seems to be deciding how much time you spend watching. Set a timer on the YouTube app.
Got a source? Has it actually been verified with data that the algorithm predicts things you didn't search for?