YouTube Wants You to Know: Is This Video Real or Fake?
YouTube just rolled out a new policy following their announcement late last year. Cre
ators now need to disclose if their videos contain content that's been significantly altered or even entirely fabricated using AI or other synthetic media. This applies specifically to content that appears realistic, even though it might not be real at all. The goal? To make viewers aware of videos that have been manipulated with powerful AI tools.
YouTube’s examples of altered and/or synthetic content include:
- Using the likeness of a realistic person: Digitally altering content to replace the face of one individual with another’s or synthetically generating a person’s voice to narrate a video.
- Altering footage of real events or places: Such as making it appear as if a real building caught fire, or altering a real cityscape to make it appear different than in reality.
- Generating realistic scenes: Showing a realistic depiction of fictional major events, like a tornado moving toward a real town.
The line between what needs to be disclosed and what doesn't is a bit blurry. For instance, are simple video effects considered "altered" content? YouTube says no, as long as the results are clearly not real. This includes things like color adjustments, blurring the background, and even beauty filters – all fair game, even if achieved with AI.
To help creators navigate this, YouTube has a support page with more specific examples. One area where disclosure is absolutely required is for deepfakes. These are videos where someone's face is replaced with another person's using AI, and YouTube takes a very dim view of creators not being upfront about that. Not following these rules could result in serious consequences, including getting banned from the program that allows you to make money from your videos.
If creators don't tell viewers their content has been altered with things like special effects or AI, YouTube might step in. To protect viewers, they can add a label to the video that the creator can't take off. And if a creator keeps forgetting to disclose this info, YouTube might take down their video or even stop them from making money on the platform.
Heads up, YouTube viewers! You'll soon see labels on videos indicating if the content has been digitally altered or created artificially. This transparency initiative starts rolling out on mobile apps today, with labels appearing on all devices (mobile, desktop, and TV) in the coming weeks. Creators, you're not left behind - a checkbox is being added to your YouTube Studio starting today, so you can disclose if your video uses this kind of technology.
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