TikTok is introducing a updated setting that allows them to reduce the quantity of AI-made media appearing in their streams. This move comes as the company revealed that it currently hosts more than 1 billion AI-generated clips.
Pilot Phase and Launch
The update is in a pilot phase over the following weeks before a full-scale launch. This shift comes amid a increase in content created by AI, driven by new content generation software.
AI Content on Other Platforms
It has been noted that approximately a tenth of the quickest rising channels on a competing service only show clips produced artificially. A large amount of this output is classified as mass-produced AI material, a term for substandard, factory-style content that is typically illogical or dreamlike.
“We know from our community that numerous viewers appreciate content created using AI tools, ranging from digital art to science explainers, and we aim to give people the ability to adjust the amount of that, depending on their own preferences,” commented a spokesperson.
Scale of AI Content
TikTok announced that there are currently 1.3bn videos on its service tagged as made with AI. Overall, more than 100 m pieces of content are added to the service each day, making AI content a minor portion of its total content library.
User Control Features
Viewers will be able to limit or boost the level of AI-generated videos they watch by using the content preference feature in the platform and picking “AI-generated content”. Other topics that currently be modified under the filter include politics, style, cosmetics, and dance.
Content Labeling and Policies
Its guidelines oblige creators to tag convincing AI-made content, and it forbids dangerous fake videos of well-known individuals or critical incidents. Any realistic AI video that is unmarked can be taken down under its community policies.
Furthermore, the app will henceforth add an “AI-made” watermark to content made using its own AI tools, or detected by an cross-platform project for recognizing artificial media. This action is intended to stop users from trying to circumvent the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
The company is also launching a $2 million AI literacy fund for professionals and organizations to create informative material about using AI responsibly. This project will support non-profit groups specializing in teaching computer science.
Content Safety Approach
The platform has defended its moderation strategy, following debate over intentions to make redundant a large number of content moderators in the United Kingdom. TikTok is set to reduce a significant number of roles in its content moderation department in its British office, with worker representatives and online safety experts raising concerns that humans are being replaced by automated systems.
A senior executive explained that human moderation would remain essential, but artificial intelligence can protect employees by filtering out the most graphic content before it has to be seen by humans. TikTok announced a 76% decrease in disturbing and violent content reviewed by human moderators over the last 12 months due to reliance on its automated systems.
It is vital to balance staff and AI to maintain a secure environment,” the executive stated. “We’ll have people as part of that process, but we further consider it’s extremely critical to minimize viewing of unsafe media as rapidly, which is where a lot of the machine support is making a difference operate efficiently.”
