I never subscribe to anything and I never like or dislike videos. I do use "never recommend this channel" occasionally, especially for that bald guy with the beard who has like a dozen channels. If I see his face in a thumbnail it's an instant "never recommend." I will probably start doing the same for channels that are obviously AI created or AI-voiced.

Yet it still learns from what I watch and though it throws some clickbait into the mix it's mostly stuff that's relevant to my interests.

You never know what it's leaving out though, so a service that curates videos based on stated interests might be interesting. On the other hand I already spend too much time on YouTube so it's not like I need more to watch.