Reversing its previous policy of relying on creator self-reporting, YouTube will automatically detect and flag AI-generated content to viewers.
Paris: YouTube will automatically detect AI-generated content in the future and provide information to viewers on its platform, the Google-owned company said on Wednesday.
The move reverses a previous policy of relying on video creators to self-report if they have used generative AI tools.
“If a creator doesn’t specify whether they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label,” YouTube said in a blog post.
The video platform’s final phase on generative AI dates back to 2024, when it requested that creators mark content where they used the technology.
Since then there have been major advances in the creation of photorealistic images and videos, with widely available AI models including Google’s Veo 3.1 and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance’s SeeDance.
YouTube said creators will be able to challenge the new flag if they feel their content has been incorrectly labeled as containing AI.
The platform said the flag would have no impact on its algorithms for recommending videos to users.
Other platforms and social networks that have recently introduced automatic flagging of AI content include music streamer Spotify.
Many online spaces are filled with AI-generated images, video or audio, which are becoming harder to distinguish from human creations as devices become more capable.
