TikTok is introducing a fresh option that enables them to reduce the amount of AI-made media appearing in their timelines. This move comes as the service announced that it currently hosts in excess of 1 billion AI-generated clips.
Trial and Implementation
The update is undergoing trials over the next few weeks before a widespread launch. This advancement coincides with a rise in AI-generated material, driven by emerging video-generation tools.
The Broader AI Trend
It has been noted that nearly a tenth of the fastest-growing video streams on a competing service exclusively feature content made by AI. A considerable share of this output is considered mass-produced AI material, a label for poor-quality, factory-style content that is frequently nonsensical or dreamlike.
“We know from our community that numerous viewers enjoy content produced via AI tools, ranging from digital art to informative clips, and we want to provide users the ability to increase or decrease of that, depending on their own preferences,” said a platform representative.
AI on the Platform
The service disclosed that there are presently 1.3bn videos on its service tagged as artificially created. In total, more than 100 m pieces of content are submitted to the app daily, making clips made by AI a minor part of its overall inventory.
User Control Features
Users will be capable of decrease or raise the volume of AI content they watch by opening the “manage topic” setting in the application and choosing the AI content topic. Additional categories that can already be controlled under the setting encompass current affairs, fashion, beauty, and choreography.
AI Disclosure Rules
Its rules require users to tag “realistic” AI-generated content, and it forbids malicious AI impersonations of public figures or critical incidents. Any believable artificial content that is without a tag can be taken down under its terms of service.
Furthermore, the service will henceforth add an artificially created label to content produced via its proprietary AI systems, or flagged by an cross-platform project for identifying artificial media. This measure is intended to help prevent users from seeking to evade the labeling process.
Educational Initiatives
TikTok is additionally introducing a $2m awareness program for specialists and institutions to develop educational content about responsible artificial intelligence. This program will assist non-profit groups specializing in educating computer science.
Moderation Strategy
The platform has defended its content review process, amid controversy over proposals to make redundant a large number of content moderators in the UK. TikTok is expected to reduce hundreds of positions in its content moderation team in London, with worker representatives and online safety experts raising concerns that staff are being displaced by automated systems.
A company official explained that human moderation would still have a role, but automated tools can safeguard staff by removing the most graphic content prior to it is viewed by people. The platform stated a notable drop in explicit and harmful content reviewed by safety staff over the last 12 months due to intervention by its machine learning processes.
“We think that it’s essential to integrate humans and technology to keep the platform safe,” the official commented. “We’ll have staff as part of that process, but we additionally believe it’s very important to reduce exposure to harmful content as rapidly, which is where a lot of the machine support is proving valuable operate efficiently.”
