TikTok is introducing a updated setting that enables them to reduce the amount of AI-created media appearing in their feeds. This step comes as the platform announced that it currently hosts over 1 thousand million AI-generated clips.
Testing and Rollout
The update is undergoing trials over the coming weeks before a widespread launch. This development comes amid a rise in AI-generated material, spurred by recent video-generation tools.
AI Proliferation Online
Studies have shown that almost one in 10 of the quickest rising video streams on a popular video site only show AI-generated videos. A large amount of this material is considered low-quality AI content, a term for poor-quality, bulk-generated content that is frequently illogical or surreal.
“We know from our community that a lot of users enjoy content made with AI tools, ranging from computer-generated images to science explainers, and we aim to give people the ability to increase or decrease of that, according to their own preferences,” said a company executive.
Volume and Proportions
The platform shared that there are now 1.3bn videos on its network identified as made with AI. Collectively, over 100 million pieces of content are uploaded to the service daily, making AI-generated material a limited part of its overall inventory.
How to Adjust Settings
Members will be able to reduce or increase the level of AI-generated videos they view by using the topic control feature in the platform and choosing “AI-generated content”. Further subjects that can already be controlled under the filter include current affairs, style, aesthetics, and choreography.
Platform Guidelines
TikTok’s rules require creators to label “realistic” artificially created content, and it prohibits harmful fake videos of well-known individuals or critical incidents. Any authentic-looking AI-generated clip that is without a tag can be deleted under its terms of service.
In addition, the platform will now apply an AI-generated label to content made using its own AI tools, or detected by an collaborative effort for identifying AI-generated material. This step is intended to deter users from attempting to evade the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
The company is additionally launching a $2 million AI literacy fund for professionals and groups to produce learning resources about responsible artificial intelligence. This project will support non-profit groups focused on educating computer science.
Moderation Strategy
The platform has supported its safety measures, amid debate over plans to cut jobs for a large number of safety staff in the UK. TikTok is set to cut a significant number of roles in its trust and safety department in its British office, with labor groups and digital protection specialists raising concerns that staff are being displaced by AI moderation.
A senior executive stated that staff-based oversight would continue to be important, but artificial intelligence can safeguard staff by filtering out the most distressing content ahead of it gets reviewed by staff. The company announced a 76% decrease in explicit and harmful content handled by safety staff over the last 12 months due to the use of its machine learning processes.
“We think that it’s essential to combine staff and AI to keep the platform safe,” she said. “We’ll have people as involved in the system, but we additionally believe it’s highly necessary to limit contact with harmful content as quickly as possible, which is the area in which a significant AI assistance is proving valuable work at speed.”
