YouTube Will Soon Inform Viewers When Videos Use AI technology

Generative AI technology has really shaken up content creation over the past couple of months, and Google wants to make the use of AI in videos more transparent for YouTube users. Today, the company announced that it will soon display labels on videos that include content that was made with AI.

Even though companies working on generative AI tools are implementing safeguards to prevent the use of their technologies for malicious purposes, this may not be enough to prevent fake news from spreading. Unfortunately, a well-done deepfake can have devastating consequences.

“We have long-standing policies that prohibit technically manipulated content that misleads viewers and may pose a serious risk of egregious harm. However, AI’s powerful new forms of storytelling can also be used to generate content that has the potential to mislead viewers—particularly if they’re unaware that the video has been altered or is synthetically created,” the YouTube team explained today.

Over the coming months, YouTube will require content creators to disclose when their videos include content created with AI. Failing to do so may cause their videos to be removed or demonetized. As an example, any YouTube video that uses AI to show realistic violence in order to “shock or disgust viewers” may be removed.

“When creators upload content, we will have new options for them to select to indicate that it contains realistic altered or synthetic material. For example, this could be an AI-generated video that realistically depicts an event that never happened, or content showing someone saying or doing something they didn’t actually do,” the YouTube team said today.

Once content creators indicate that their YouTube videos include content that was made with AI, YouTube will add an explicit label to their description panel to inform viewers that they’re watching “altered or synthetic content.” For videos about sensitive topics, YouTube will go even further and add a label directly on the video player.

Videos with AI content are raising a new moderation problem for YouTube. In addition to its team of 20,000 human reviewers, the company will also start using AI technology to better identify videos that don’t respect its Community Guidelines.

Lastly, Google will soon allow anyone to request the removal of videos that use AI to reproduce their likeness. The YouTube team said that it will first need to assess if the content is parodic or satirical and if the person in the video can be clearly identified.

Google is also preparing to crack down on AI-generated voice clones that have made headlines in recent months. The company will allow its music partners to request the removal of videos that imitate an artist’s voice.