YouTube Now Requires Creators to Label Videos Made With Generative AI

Anyone else worried about the future of the internet? I know I am, especially as realistic AI-generated videos become more mainstream. I imagine it won’t be too long before even the most savvy of us are tripped up by an image that doesn’t actually exist. Any steps we can take now, before it’s too late, to make it easier to identify what content is AI-generated will be steps in the right direction.

YouTube is taking one of those steps today: The company announced Tuesday that it would be rolling out a new tool in Creator Studio, requiring creators to label whenever realistic content is made with “altered or synthetic media.” Of course, that includes media created using generative AI. You’ll find this option under a new “Altered Content” section, where you can choose Yes or No to whether your video meets the requirements.

Credit: YouTube

YouTube won’t require creators to label videos that feature obviously altered or synthetic media, including animation or videos with special effects. However, the following categories will require creators to apply the new label:

• If you use someone’s likeness in your video, say, realistically swap a person’s face with another (deepfake).

• If you create a voice based on a real person’s voice.

• If you alter a real place in a realistic way, such as setting a real building on fire, or editing a real skyline.

• If you create a realistic scene that viewers would be tricked into believing was real, such as a “tornado moving toward a real town.”

To be clear, this label is only required for the visual and audio elements of a given upload. YouTube will not require creators to note when they’ve used generative AI for other areas of a video’s production, such as for writing the script, nor will they need to apply the label when the video is not realistic. This can include animations, lighting and color effects, certain special effects that are not realistic or inconsequential, or certain face filters.

Unfortunately, this likely won’t be the transformative change many of us concerned about AI manipulation will be looking for. While YouTube “requires” creators to add this label whenever their content meets these requirements, creators can still upload the video without applying the label. YouTube says it will “look at enforcement measures” for creators that don’t appropriately label their videos, and may even apply the label themselves, but there’s no policy set in stone yet. As of now, this label system is pretty much based on the honor system.

Still, hopefully creators play ball here and label their videos appropriately. YouTube says the label will appear in the expanded description of most videos, but for those that are particularly sensitive (YouTube highlights health, news, elections, or finance) the site may apply a more obviously label on the video itself.