TikTok is introducing a new feature that allows them to lessen the quantity of AI-made videos appearing in their streams. This move comes as the platform announced that it presently contains over 1 bn content made with AI.
Trial and Implementation
The update is being tested over the next few weeks before a full-scale release. This shift coincides with a increase in content created by AI, driven by emerging content generation software.
The Broader AI Trend
Studies have shown that approximately a tenth of the fastest-growing channels on a competing service exclusively feature AI-generated videos. A significant portion of this material is considered “AI slop”, a term for inferior, bulk-generated content that is often nonsensical or dreamlike.
“We know from our community that numerous viewers like content made with AI tools, from digital art to educational videos, and we intend to give people the ability to see more or less of that, depending on their own choices,” stated a spokesperson.
Scale of AI Content
The platform announced that there are now over a billion videos on its app identified as made with AI. Collectively, more than 100 m pieces of content are submitted to the service each day, making clips made by AI a minor portion of its complete catalog.
Customizing Your Feed
Viewers will be able to reduce or increase the amount of AI content they view by opening the content preference feature in the app and picking the AI content topic. Further subjects that can already be adjusted under the tool cover current affairs, style, aesthetics, and movement.
AI Disclosure Rules
TikTok’s policies require users to label “realistic” AI-made content, and it bans harmful AI impersonations of well-known individuals or critical incidents. Any believable AI video that is without a tag can be removed under its community policies.
Furthermore, the platform will from now on add an artificially created watermark to content made using its own AI tools, or detected by an cross-platform project for recognizing content made by AI. This step is intended to help prevent users from seeking to evade the labeling process.
Responsible AI Funding
The company is additionally establishing a $2 million educational fund for specialists and organizations to develop educational content about ethical AI use. This project will assist educational bodies focused on teaching coding and technology.
Moderation Strategy
TikTok has supported its content review process, during controversy over intentions to lay off numerous safety staff in the UK. It is set to reduce 439 jobs in its trust and safety division in the UK capital, with worker representatives and digital protection specialists raising concerns that staff are being displaced by AI moderation.
A senior executive explained that people-led review would still have a role, but AI can safeguard staff by removing the most graphic content prior to it has to be seen by humans. The company reported a 76% decrease in explicit and harmful content reviewed by safety staff over the previous year due to intervention by its automated systems.
It is vital to balance staff and AI to ensure user safety,” the official commented. “We’ll have people as integral to the approach, but we additionally believe it’s extremely critical to limit contact with dangerous material as quickly as possible, which is where a lot of the machine support is proving valuable operate efficiently.”
