YouTube will be integrating an "automatic AI detection" features to its platform along with stepping up its labelling practices in a push to make it easier for users to differentiate between user-generated content and AI-generated content, according to a blogpost from the company on Wednesday.
The video sharing platform will roll out these internal signal identify AI-made content from May 2026 onwards.
YouTube will now automatically flag content it deems "photorealistically AI-generated" irrespective of creators labelling it as such. Creators will have the option of appealing to YouTube regarding their decision to label their content if they contend as incorrectly labelled and have the decision reversed.
AI-usage disclosure for content will be permanent if the content was created using YouTube's own AI tools such as Veo or Dream Screen, or if the content contained C2PA metadata indicating they were fully generative AI.
The company will also move disclosure labels for photo-realistic AI generated content to a more a noticeable positon so that viewers are able to spot it with ease. For long-form videos, the label will now appear directly below the video player, above the description while for its Shorts format, the label will appear as an overlay on the video itself.
"By moving these labels on to the main stage, viewers get the context they need at a glance. This is now the single label format for all photorealistic and meaningfully AI altered or generated content on YouTube," the post said.
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The disclosure for videos that have unrealistic, animated, or slightly altered content, will be provided in the expanded description.
YouTube said that these changes are to balance transparency with creator control. It further stated that a disclosure label does not change how a video is recommended or whether it's eligible to earn money.
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