TikTok is introducing a new feature that allows them to lessen the amount of AI-created media appearing in their feeds. This step comes as the platform revealed that it currently hosts over 1 thousand million AI-generated clips.
Testing and Rollout
This change is in a pilot phase over the coming weeks before a widespread rollout. This shift coincides with a surge in AI content, spurred by emerging content generation software.
The Broader AI Trend
Studies have shown that nearly 10% of the most rapidly expanding channels on a competing service exclusively feature clips produced artificially. A significant portion of this material is deemed “AI slop”, a term for poor-quality, bulk-generated content that is often illogical or dreamlike.
“We know from our community that a lot of users appreciate content created using AI tools, including AI artwork to informative clips, and we want to offer the community the option to adjust the amount of that, based on their own likes,” commented a company executive.
Volume and Proportions
TikTok disclosed that there are now 1.3 billion videos on its network labeled as artificially created. Overall, more than 100 m videos are submitted to the app daily, making AI content a relatively small percentage of its complete catalog.
User Control Features
Users will be in a position to reduce or increase the amount of artificial media they see by using the content preference setting in the platform and choosing “AI-generated content”. Further subjects that are already be modified under the tool encompass politics, clothing, cosmetics, and movement.
Platform Guidelines
Its guidelines oblige creators to label “realistic” AI-made content, and it forbids harmful fake videos of celebrities or critical incidents. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is not labeled can be removed under its terms of service.
In addition, the service will henceforth attach an AI-generated tag to content produced via its proprietary AI systems, or identified by an cross-platform project for spotting content made by AI. This step is intended to help prevent users from seeking to bypass the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
The company is furthermore introducing a $2 million awareness program for experts and groups to create educational content about using AI responsibly. This program will benefit non-profit groups focused on training coding and technology.
Moderation Strategy
The video-sharing app has defended its safety measures, following debate over plans to lay off hundreds of safety staff in the United Kingdom. It is planning to cut hundreds of positions in its trust and safety department in London, with trade unions and digital protection specialists expressing worry that people are being substituted by machine-led review.
A senior executive explained that staff-based oversight would continue to be important, but AI can shield workers by filtering out the most distressing content ahead of it gets reviewed by staff. TikTok reported a 76% decrease in explicit and harmful content reviewed by content reviewers over the last 12 months due to reliance on its automated systems.
It is vital to balance people and machines to keep the platform safe,” the official commented. “We’ll have people as part of that process, but we also think it’s highly necessary to minimize viewing of dangerous material as quickly as possible, which is the area in which a lot of the machine support is really helping us work at speed.”