YouTube is rolling out automatic labels for videos that make significant use of artificial intelligence, the company announced in a blog post on Wednesday. The move aims to help viewers distinguish between real and AI-generated content more easily.
Starting this week, YouTube's internal systems will detect videos with 'significant photorealistic AI use' and apply labels automatically if creators have not already disclosed the use of AI. Creators can still manually disclose AI use, but the new system adds an extra layer of transparency.
For long-form videos, the AI label will appear directly below the video player and above the description. For YouTube Shorts, the label will be an overlay on the video itself. Previously, such labels were only in the expanded description section.
YouTube emphasised that the labels do not affect video recommendations or monetisation. 'This is purely about giving viewers the right information at the right time,' said Rene Ritchie, YouTube's head of editorial and creator liaison.
Creators can modify incorrect labels via YouTube Studio, but labels will remain permanent for content made with YouTube's own AI tools or containing C2PA metadata indicating full AI generation. The update follows YouTube's expansion of its likeness-detection programme earlier this month.
