TikTok is introducing a updated setting that enables them to reduce the volume of artificial intelligence-produced media appearing in their streams. This initiative comes as the platform disclosed that it presently contains in excess of 1 bn AI-generated clips.
Pilot Phase and Launch
The new functionality is undergoing trials over the coming weeks before a widespread launch. This shift aligns with a rise in AI content, spurred by new AI video creators.
AI Proliferation Online
Studies have shown that almost a tenth of the most rapidly expanding content creators on another major platform primarily display clips produced artificially. A significant portion of this material is classified as “AI slop”, a phrase for substandard, bulk-generated content that is often absurd or dreamlike.
Based on user feedback that many people like content made with AI tools, ranging from computer-generated images to educational videos, and we intend to give people the option to increase or decrease of that, according to their own choices,” commented a platform representative.
AI on the Platform
The service announced that there are currently 1.3bn videos on its app identified as artificially created. Collectively, over 100 million media items are added to the service each day, making AI-generated material a minor portion of its complete catalog.
Customizing Your Feed
Members will be in a position to reduce or increase the level of AI-generated videos they see by accessing the “manage topic” feature in the application and picking the AI content topic. Additional categories that can already be modified under the setting cover politics, clothing, cosmetics, and movement.
Platform Guidelines
Its policies oblige creators to tag convincing artificially created content, and it bans harmful fake videos of well-known individuals or emergencies. Any realistic artificial content that is without a tag can be deleted under its community policies.
In addition, the service will henceforth add an “AI-made” watermark to content made using its own AI tools, or identified by an cross-platform project for recognizing AI-generated material. This action is intended to help prevent users from trying to circumvent the tagging system.
Educational Initiatives
TikTok is furthermore introducing a $2m AI literacy fund for specialists and institutions to develop informative material about responsible artificial intelligence. This initiative will benefit educational bodies focused on teaching programming and robotics.
Content Safety Approach
The platform has supported its content review process, amid debate over plans to cut jobs for a large number of content moderators in the United Kingdom. TikTok is planning to cut 439 jobs in its trust and safety department in its British office, with labor groups and digital protection specialists voicing alarm that humans are being replaced by AI moderation.
A trust and safety lead stated that staff-based oversight would continue to be important, but artificial intelligence can protect employees by removing the most harmful content prior to it has to be seen by staff. The platform stated a significant reduction in explicit and harmful content seen by human moderators over the last 12 months due to intervention by its AI tools.
We believe it is crucial to combine people and machines to keep the platform safe,” she said. “We’ll have people as involved in the system, but we additionally believe it’s extremely critical to minimize viewing of harmful content as swiftly, which is why a lot of the machine support is proving valuable process content quickly.”
