Image: © natanaelginting/Stock.adobe.com
However, disclosure labels for content that is ‘clearly’ unrealistic, animated or has used generative AI for production assistance will not be necessary.
YouTube will require creators on the platform to disclose if a video has been generated using AI in the coming weeks, the company announced yesterday (18 March).
The new tool will help creators add these disclosures in the form of labels in the expanded description of a video or on the front of the video player to “strengthen transparency” with viewers and “build trust” between creators and their audience.
YouTube said the placement of the disclosure label will depend on the sensitivity of the topic, with those touching on issues such as health, news, elections or finance getting a prominent label on the video itself.
“Generative AI is transforming the ways creators express themselves – from storyboarding ideas to experimenting with tools that enhance the creative process. But viewers increasingly want more transparency about whether the content they’re seeing is altered or synthetic,” the company wrote.
Screenshot of the tool in Creator Studio. Image: Google
“That’s why today we’re introducing a new tool in Creator Studio requiring creators to disclose to viewers when realistic content – content a viewer could easily mistake for a real person, place or event – is made with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI.”
For instance, digitally altering content to replace the face of one individual with another, changing the footage of real events or places and generating realistic scenes of fictional events will require disclosure statements. The videos need not have been altered solely using AI.
However, the Google-owned company said it will not require creators to disclose content that is “clearly” unrealistic, animated or has used generative AI for production assistance.
“Of course, we recognise that creators use generative AI in a variety of ways throughout the creation process,” YouTube said.
“We won’t require creators to disclose if generative AI was used for productivity, like generating scripts, content ideas or automatic captions. We also won’t require creators to disclose when synthetic media is unrealistic and/or the changes are inconsequential.”
Last year, the platform revealed a list of AI tools for creators including generative AI for videos, production tools to edit from mobiles, AI-powered dubbing and a music-finding assistant.
One of the most notable tools is Dream Screen, which is designed to add AI-generated videos and image backgrounds to YouTube Shorts videos. The company said creators will be able to create new settings for their videos through simple text prompts.
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