Evaluating the Content of AI-Recommended YouTube Webisodes: A Focus on Sex Education in India

Sex Education, which is seen as a taboo subject in everyday Indian culture and suffers a strong pushback for sexual and reproductive health-related education, is one of the country's biggest societal challenges. The primary reason may be the banning of the topics from curriculum by various state governments along with the loophole in policymaking. Modern Sex Education is way beyond the dissemination of hygienic menstrual practices or contraceptive methods. It is learning about their own bodies, consent, creating spaces for oppressed gender and much more. In the digital age, teenagers are compelled to explore the untold information on internet which may lead to either misinformation of partial information which is way more dangerous. Social Media plays a crucial role in terms of engagement and content consumption across all age groups. YouTube is one of the prominent platforms which heavily relies on Artificial Intelligence and recommends the content based on the user’s behavior. With the help of the study, it aims to understand and analyze the content uploaded by Indian Content Creators on YouTube which is conceptualizing Sex Education. The 30 videos are closely examined thematically and semiotically with the help of the transcripts generated from the videos with the help of NVivo 12. The study simplifies the idea of stigma associated with Sex Education and the misconceptions around the same.