The platform is rolling out a fresh option that allows them to cut down on the amount of AI-created media appearing in their streams. This initiative comes as the platform disclosed that it presently contains more than 1 bn AI-generated clips.
Testing and Rollout
This change is undergoing trials over the following weeks before a widespread release. This advancement coincides with a rise in AI-generated material, driven by emerging AI video creators.
AI Proliferation Online
Recent reports that nearly 10% of the fastest-growing channels on a competing service exclusively feature clips produced artificially. A significant portion of this content is considered mass-produced AI material, a term for substandard, factory-style content that is often absurd or surreal.
“We know from our community that a lot of users appreciate content created using AI tools, including AI artwork to educational videos, and we intend to offer the community the ability to increase or decrease of that, based on their own likes,” commented a spokesperson.
Scale of AI Content
TikTok announced that there are currently 1.3 billion videos on its app labeled as AI-generated. In total, over 100 million videos are submitted to the platform every day, making AI-generated material a relatively small part of its overall inventory.
How to Adjust Settings
Viewers will be able to limit or boost the level of AI-generated videos they see by opening the “manage topic” option in the application and choosing AI-made media. Other topics that can already be controlled under the setting include politics, fashion, aesthetics, and movement.
Content Labeling and Policies
The platform’s policies mandate users to identify “realistic” AI-generated content, and it bans malicious deepfakes of well-known individuals or emergencies. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is without a tag can be taken down under its community policies.
Additionally, the platform will henceforth attach an artificially created label to content made using its built-in AI features, or flagged by an industry-wide initiative for identifying content made by AI. This measure is aimed to stop users from attempting to bypass the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
The company is additionally launching a $2m educational fund for professionals and organizations to produce informative material about using AI responsibly. This project will support charitable organizations focused on educating computer science.
Moderation Strategy
The video-sharing app has justified its safety measures, during controversy over plans to make redundant a large number of review team members in the United Kingdom. It is expected to cut hundreds of positions in its user protection department in London, with trade unions and online safety experts voicing alarm that people are being substituted by machine-led review.
A senior executive explained that people-led review would still have a role, but automated tools can safeguard staff by filtering out the most harmful content prior to it is viewed by staff. TikTok announced a notable drop in explicit and harmful content reviewed by human moderators over the last 12 months due to the use of its AI tools.
“We think that it’s essential to integrate people and machines to maintain a secure environment,” the official commented. “We’ll have humans as part of that process, but we further consider it’s extremely critical to limit contact with unsafe media as swiftly, which is where a lot of the machine support is making a difference work at speed.”
