Many online spaces are flooded with AI-generated images, video or audio, which is growing increasingly difficult to tell apart from human creations as the tools become more capable.
Youtube has announced that it will in future automatically detect AI-generated content and flag the information to viewers on its platform, the company said on 27 May.
The move reverses a previous policy of relying on video creators to self-report if they had used generative AI tools.
“If a creator doesn’t specify whether or not they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label,” Youtube said.
The video platform’s previous steps on generative AI date back to 2024, when it requested that creators flag content where they had used the technology.
Since then there have been major strides in producing photorealistic images and video, with widely available AI models including Google’s Veo 3.1 and Seedance from Tiktok’s parent company Bytedance.
Creators will be able to challenge the new flags if they think their content has been unfairly labelled as AI, Youtube said. The platform added that the flags would have no impact on its algorithm for recommending videos to users.
Other platforms and social networks to introduce automatic flagging of AI content recently include music streamer Spotify.
AI Likeness Detection Tool
YouTube’s tool to track whether your face is being used in AI-generated content is now available for all channel owners over the age of 18.
The tool was introduced in October last year to help creators in the YouTube Partner Program track instances of AI-generated content misusing their likeness. Last month, YouTube expanded the tool to include celebrities.
YouTube now says it is rolling out the tool to all accounts, with a gradual release over the “coming weeks.”
The tool monitors all of YouTube to identify where your likeness is used in AI-generated content across videos, so you can understand whether your identity is being used without your permission. You can then request the removal of the content directly in YouTubeStudio to help protect your own reputation from viewers being misled by your face and voice.
