Users will soon have a fresh option that enables them to cut down on the amount of AI-created videos appearing in their streams. This move comes as the company disclosed that it now features in excess of 1 bn AI-generated clips.
Testing and Rollout
This change is in a pilot phase over the following weeks before a global release. This development coincides with a rise in content created by AI, fueled by recent AI video creators.
The Broader AI Trend
Studies have shown that approximately 10% of the quickest rising video streams on a popular video site only show clips produced artificially. A large amount of this material is considered “AI slop”, a phrase for inferior, bulk-generated content that is often absurd or surreal.
“We know from our community that numerous viewers appreciate content made with AI tools, from computer-generated images to educational videos, and we aim to provide users the ability to increase or decrease of that, depending on their own preferences,” commented a company executive.
AI on the Platform
TikTok announced that there are now 1.3 billion videos on its app tagged as AI-generated. Collectively, in excess of 100 m media items are added to the platform each day, making AI content a relatively small part of its complete catalog.
User Control Features
Users will be able to decrease or raise the level of AI-generated videos they view by accessing the “manage topic” feature in the application and choosing “AI-generated content”. Additional categories that can already be modified under the setting cover politics, clothing, cosmetics, and choreography.
AI Disclosure Rules
TikTok’s rules require content makers to identify lifelike artificially created content, and it bans harmful AI impersonations of celebrities or critical incidents. Any realistic AI video that is unmarked can be removed under its community policies.
Additionally, the service will henceforth apply an AI-generated watermark to content created with its own AI tools, or detected by an cross-platform project for recognizing content made by AI. This action is intended to deter users from trying to evade the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
TikTok is furthermore introducing a two million dollar educational fund for experts and groups to create learning resources about responsible artificial intelligence. This initiative will support non-profit groups focused on educating coding and technology.
Content Safety Approach
The platform has supported its safety measures, following controversy over proposals to lay off hundreds of review team members in the United Kingdom. The company is planning to reduce hundreds of positions in its user protection department in its British office, with worker representatives and online safety experts raising concerns that people are being substituted by automated systems.
A company official explained that staff-based oversight would still have a role, but AI can protect employees by eliminating the most distressing content ahead of it is viewed by people. The platform reported a significant reduction in shocking and graphic content seen by safety staff over the last 12 months due to the use of its AI tools.
We believe it is crucial to integrate people and machines to ensure user safety,” she said. “We’ll have staff as involved in the system, but we also think it’s extremely critical to reduce exposure to harmful content as quickly as possible, which is where a lot of the machine support is really helping us work at speed.”
