I use Youtube as more of a delivery channel than a platform, kind of like podcasts. I listen to a fair number of podcasts and to be honest I have no idea where I found most of them, I guess word of mouth? Or maybe linked from some article I read a long time ago? It definitely wasn't from any recommendations engine, although my podcast app does have a "Browse" section that I've never used.

I don't think it's necessarily bad to use the automated recommendations but there are certainly other ways to discover new content.