TikTok is introducing a new feature that allows them to reduce the quantity of artificial intelligence-produced content appearing in their timelines. This initiative comes as the company revealed that it currently hosts more than 1 billion AI-generated clips.
Testing and Rollout
The update is being tested over the next few weeks before a global release. This shift coincides with a rise in content created by AI, driven by recent AI video creators.
The Broader AI Trend
Recent reports that almost a tenth of the quickest rising channels on a competing service exclusively feature content made by AI. A considerable share of this material is deemed low-quality AI content, a term for poor-quality, bulk-generated content that is frequently illogical or surreal.
Our research shows that many people like content made with AI tools, including digital art to educational videos, and we want to offer the community the option to increase or decrease of that, based on their own likes,” stated a company executive.
Volume and Proportions
The service shared that there are presently 1.3bn videos on its app identified as AI-generated. In total, over 100 m pieces of content are submitted to the app every day, making clips made by AI a limited portion of its total content library.
Customizing Your Feed
Viewers will be able to reduce or increase the amount of artificial media they watch by using the topic control feature in the app and choosing “AI-generated content”. Other topics that can already be controlled under the filter include news, style, aesthetics, and movement.
AI Disclosure Rules
TikTok’s rules mandate creators to identify convincing AI-generated content, and it prohibits harmful fake videos of well-known individuals or crisis events. Any believable AI-generated clip that is unmarked can be removed under its terms of service.
In addition, the service will now apply an artificially created watermark to content produced via its built-in AI features, or flagged by an cross-platform project for identifying content made by AI. This step is aimed to help prevent users from seeking to bypass the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
The platform is furthermore introducing a $2m awareness program for professionals and organizations to develop informative material about using AI responsibly. This initiative will assist non-profit groups focused on educating computer science.
Content Safety Approach
The video-sharing app has supported its moderation strategy, amid debate over plans to lay off a large number of content moderators in the UK. TikTok is set to cut hundreds of positions in its user protection division in London, with worker representatives and digital protection specialists raising concerns that staff are being displaced by automated systems.
A company official clarified that people-led review would continue to be important, but artificial intelligence can shield workers by eliminating the most distressing content ahead of it is viewed by humans. TikTok stated a significant reduction in shocking and graphic content reviewed by human moderators over the previous year due to the use of its automated systems.
“We think that it’s essential to balance humans and technology to keep the platform safe,” the official commented. “We’ll have people as involved in the system, but we further consider it’s very important to minimize viewing of unsafe media as swiftly, which is where a lot of the machine support is really helping us work at speed.”
