AN ANIMATED Minnie Mouse lookalike injects a knock-off Mickey Mouse character with a syringe, as a blood-curdling scream rings out.

Later in the same clip, the camera zooms in on an animated mouse's bouncing breasts as suggestive music plays.

7 This is a still from a YouTube video targeted at children, and made by a click-driven computer program

AI-generated videos made to target kids can contain sexual content

But this video isn't meant for adults - and neither was it made by them.

Instead, it has been created by AI, targeted at children and uploaded to YouTube, where many of its 1.25 million views will have been by kids.

The clip in question is just one of thousands of similar videos infesting YouTube.

They are made purely to make advertising money, and are cobbled together from a random library of sounds, images and animations by a cold computer program.

7 These bizarre clips have been made by an AI program to trick kids into clicking them

7 All the suggested videos appear to have been made in the same way, and are uploaded by a range of YouTube channels targeted at kids

Their garbled names are generated by the same machine to hit the most popular search terms for kids, and to make sure the clips appear as suggested videos when watching legitimate kids' shows.

The content of these videos doesn't matter - all that's important is that they are laden with keywords and bright colours and that children will click them.

Because they weren't created by human beings, many of the thousands of AI-generated videos on YouTube are pure nonsense.

But in some cases, the results of these click-producing algorithms are disturbing, twisted or sexual - and not suitable for kids, the Sun Online can reveal.

Computer-generated YouTube clip aimed at kids is rammed with sexual content

7 This clip, designed to be stumbled upon by children, has over a million views

Starting with a legitimate children's TV clip, just three clicks on suggested videos lead us to one of the computer-generated sequences, designed to be stumbled across by children.

The video's length, like all the others in the same style, is just over 10 minutes - what's needed for a clip to start making serious ad money.

Clicks drive ad money for content producers and for YouTube itself - and there is a lucrative industry for producers who can get kids to watch their videos.

Many of these automated videos have upwards of a million views, and are posted by a range of near-identical kids' channels, some of which are actually verified by YouTube.

7 Thousands of these machine-made clips are infesting YouTube... and many are inappropriate for the child audience they target

One bizarre thumbnail for a clip shows a Minnie Mouse lookalike with blood squirting from her bottom.

Other videos in the same style show cartoon characters getting tattoos and undressing in scenes which are not suitable for young children.

From here, suggested videos include a string of almost-identical clips with explicitly sexual thumbnails, made from the same recycled segments of animated footage.

Although the content of these videos often has nothing to do with the thumbnail - or the title - they still come up as a suggested links when watching kids' videos.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg.

How to keep your kids safe online Tony Neate, CEO of Get Safe Online, said: For parents, we should talk to our children from the beginning and communicate about what they’re watching, and take appropriate action where needs be.

Regularly check your child’s privacy settings as well as activity on their social media accounts.

Ensure that your child is using age-appropriate apps. For example, YouTube has YouTube Kids, an app which just provides content suitable for children.

Ensure that your child is using age-appropriate apps. For example, YouTube has YouTube Kids, an app which just provides content suitable for children. However, it still uses an algorithm, which means that occasionally inappropriate content slips through. As such, it’s important that parents regularly check the settings of this app and any app that their child uses. Most child-friendly apps have detailed instructions on how to do this.

Help your child set up any new apps yourself. This is also a good opportunity to talk to and educate children about the sort of content that is inappropriate and can make them vulnerable when online.

For further information, visit getsafeonline.org

YouTube is also rammed with malicious videos made by adults - not bots - designed to look like children's content to trick youngsters into clicking on them.

Previously, we told how horrific knock-off Peppa Pig videos had infested the site - designed to look like the real deal but with shocking violent story lines and graphic scenes.

Animated by trolls, the clips include one where a sadistic dentist leaves Peppa screaming and another where pigs kidnap a cartoon girl.

In one particularly harrowing clip, a demented Peppa attacks her own dad and starts taking bites from his flesh.

7 Clips made by trolls to scare children are mixed in among the AI-generated clips Credit: YouTube

But YouTube hasn't done anything about these. In fact, some argue that the way YouTube works actually encourages this sort of activity.

Sonia Livingstone, an expert in online child safety and a professor of social psychology at the London School of Economics, said: "Clearly YouTube’s business model, which monetises clicks, has motivated a generation of content creators, with some results that are potentially harmful to children.

"Research shows children can be upset by violent, gory or sexual content on the internet, and that many such images are viewed on YouTube.

"It seems likely that when this content involves twisted representations of their favourite characters, this is even more upsetting."

7 Scenes in computer-generated videos targeted at kids include cartoon characters getting tattoos

The NSPCC argues that more must be done to prevent kids from stumbling across inappropriate content on YouTube.

A spokesperson said: “Like all sites offering user generated content, YouTube has an utmost responsibility to ensure that content is suitable for children and young people.

"Where it says that content is family friendly, it needs to ensure it has robust community guidelines and processes to implement these to ensure that it is actually the case.

“Parents need to closely monitor what their children are watching online, because even on platforms such as YouTube Kids which are pitched as child-friendly, the nature of user generated content means that there is always a risk that inappropriate clips could slip through the net.”

Peppa Pig screams at the dentist in twisted knock-off YouTube video for kids

To prove how disturbing some of this content is, we showed a selection of clips to mum Natasha Harding and filmed her reaction.

The concerned parent said: "My daughter, Lexi has just turned four.

"Lexi has mild autism and struggles to watch the television because she gets too distracted. She'd much rather watch my phone as she can concentrate more on it and also control what she watches.

"She wouldn't have the speech to tell me if she saw something like this but she would be very upset.

"Like most preschoolers she loves watching Peppa Pig and seeing Peppa in the dentist's chair having all of her teeth extracted would really distress her. "

And commenting on the string of suggestive AI-generated clips targeted at children, she said: "This video with its weird sexual connotations is madly inappropriate for children to watch. It's actually quite sinister and disturbing."

Mum reacts to AI generated inappropriate versions of kids cartoons on YouTube

A YouTube spokesperson said: "We’re always looking to improve the YouTube experience for all our users and that includes ensuring that our platform remains an open place for free communication while balancing the removal of controversial content.

"In the last year, we have updated our advertising policy to clearly indicate that videos depicting family entertainment characters engaged in inappropriate behaviour are not eligible for advertising on YouTube.”