In a bid to address growing concerns about altered or synthetic content, YouTube is rolling out a new tool within Creator Studio aimed at promoting transparency between creators and viewers. The tool requires creators to disclose when realistic content, which could be mistaken for real people, places, or events, is produced using altered or synthetic media, including generative AI.
Announced in November last year, these disclosures will be visible as labels in the expanded video description or directly on the video player itself. However, creators are not required to disclose content that is obviously unrealistic, animated, includes special effects, or has used generative AI for production assistance.
The introduction of this new label is intended to bolster transparency and trust between creators and their audience. Examples of content requiring disclosure include digitally altering the likeness of a realistic person, manipulating footage of real events or places, and generating realistic scenes depicting fictional major events.
Recognizing the diverse ways in which creators utilize generative AI, YouTube will not mandate disclosure for productivity purposes such as generating scripts or automatic captions. Similarly, inconsequential changes such as color adjustments or beauty filters will not require disclosure.
While most videos will display labels in the expanded description, videos touching on sensitive topics like health, news, elections, or finance will feature more prominent labels directly on the video itself.
The rollout of these labels will commence across all YouTube platforms in the coming weeks, starting with the mobile app and expanding to desktop and TV interfaces. YouTube plans to monitor compliance with these disclosure requirements and may introduce enforcement measures for creators who consistently fail to disclose relevant information.
Furthermore, YouTube is actively collaborating with industry partners, including its involvement as a steering member of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), to enhance transparency and authenticity in digital content across the board.
