TikTok is introducing a new feature that allows them to lessen the amount of artificial intelligence-produced content appearing in their streams. This initiative comes as the platform disclosed that it currently hosts over 1 thousand million content made with AI.
Testing and Rollout
The new functionality is in a pilot phase over the next few weeks before a full-scale launch. This shift coincides with a surge in content created by AI, fueled by new AI video creators.
The Broader AI Trend
Studies have shown that nearly a tenth of the most rapidly expanding channels on a popular video site only show content made by AI. A large amount of this material is considered “AI slop”, a phrase for substandard, bulk-generated content that is often illogical or surreal.
“We know from our community that a lot of users enjoy content made with AI tools, including digital art to science explainers, and we want to give people the power to see more or less of that, based on their own choices,” stated a platform representative.
AI on the Platform
The platform disclosed that there are now 1.3bn videos on its network tagged as artificially created. In total, in excess of 100 million pieces of content are added to the platform daily, making AI content a limited percentage of its complete catalog.
How to Adjust Settings
Viewers will be capable of limit or boost the volume of AI content they watch by opening the topic control feature in the platform and choosing “AI-generated content”. Further subjects that can already be controlled under the filter include news, clothing, beauty, and movement.
Platform Guidelines
TikTok’s policies mandate creators to tag “realistic” AI-made content, and it prohibits harmful deepfakes of well-known individuals or crisis events. Any authentic-looking AI-generated clip that is without a tag can be removed under its community policies.
In addition, the app will henceforth attach an AI-generated label to content produced via its proprietary AI systems, or flagged by an cross-platform project for spotting AI-generated material. This action is intended to help prevent users from attempting to bypass the labeling process.
Educational Initiatives
The platform is furthermore establishing a $2 million educational fund for specialists and institutions to produce educational content about ethical AI use. This program will support non-profit groups specializing in training computer science.
Content Safety Approach
The platform has defended its content review process, during controversy over plans to cut jobs for numerous content moderators in the UK. The company is set to reduce hundreds of positions in its trust and safety team in its British office, with labor groups and internet security professionals expressing worry that staff are being displaced by AI moderation.
A senior executive explained that human moderation would remain essential, but automated tools can protect employees by filtering out the most distressing content ahead of it is viewed by humans. The company stated a notable drop in shocking and graphic content seen by safety staff over the previous year due to intervention by its machine learning processes.
It is vital to combine humans and technology to maintain a secure environment,” the official commented. “We’ll have people as integral to the approach, but we additionally believe it’s extremely critical to reduce exposure to harmful content as quickly as possible, which is where a lot of the machine support is proving valuable process content quickly.”
