TikTok is introducing a updated setting that allows them to lessen the amount of AI-made media appearing in their feeds. This move comes as the service revealed that it now features over 1 bn content made with AI.
Testing and Rollout
The new functionality is being tested over the next few weeks before a full-scale rollout. This shift comes amid a rise in AI content, driven by emerging video-generation tools.
AI Proliferation Online
It has been noted that approximately one in 10 of the fastest-growing channels on another major platform exclusively feature AI-generated videos. A large amount of this content is deemed low-quality AI content, a phrase for poor-quality, bulk-generated content that is often nonsensical or dreamlike.
“We know from our community that a lot of users appreciate content created using AI tools, ranging from AI artwork to informative clips, and we intend to offer the community the ability to see more or less of that, based on their own preferences,” stated a company executive.
Volume and Proportions
The platform disclosed that there are currently 1.3 billion videos on its service identified as made with AI. Overall, more than 100 million media items are submitted to the platform each day, making clips made by AI a limited percentage of its complete catalog.
User Control Features
Viewers will be in a position to limit or boost the volume of AI-generated videos they watch by using the topic control option in the platform and selecting “AI-generated content”. Additional categories that currently be adjusted under the setting encompass politics, clothing, aesthetics, and dance.
Content Labeling and Policies
TikTok’s guidelines oblige content makers to label lifelike AI-generated content, and it forbids harmful deepfakes of celebrities or crisis events. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is unmarked can be removed under its terms of service.
Furthermore, the app will from now on attach an “AI-made” label to content created with its built-in AI features, or identified by an industry-wide initiative for identifying AI-generated material. This step is intended to deter users from trying to bypass the labeling process.
AI Literacy Programs
The platform is additionally establishing a $2 million educational fund for specialists and groups to create informative material about using AI responsibly. This program will support charitable organizations focused on training computer science.
Content Safety Approach
The platform has supported its safety measures, during discussion over plans to make redundant numerous content moderators in Britain. TikTok is expected to eliminate a significant number of roles in its trust and safety team in the UK capital, with trade unions and digital protection specialists voicing alarm that people are being substituted by AI moderation.
A company official stated that human moderation would still have a role, but AI can safeguard staff by eliminating the most distressing content prior to it is viewed by humans. The company stated a significant reduction in disturbing and violent content seen by safety staff over the past year due to the use of its machine learning processes.
“We think that it’s essential to balance staff and AI to maintain a secure environment,” she said. “We’ll have staff as involved in the system, but we additionally believe it’s very important to reduce exposure to unsafe media as swiftly, which is where a extensive automated help is really helping us process content quickly.”
