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TikTok is introducing a updated setting that enables them to lessen the amount of AI-made content appearing in their streams. This move comes as the company announced that it now features more than 1 bn content made with AI.

Pilot Phase and Launch

This change is being tested over the coming weeks before a global rollout. This development coincides with a increase in AI-generated material, spurred by recent video-generation tools.

The Broader AI Trend

It has been noted that almost one in 10 of the fastest-growing video streams on a popular video site only show content made by AI. A large amount of this material is considered low-quality AI content, a term for poor-quality, bulk-generated content that is typically nonsensical or bizarre.

“We know from our community that a lot of users like content produced via AI tools, ranging from AI artwork to informative clips, and we want to provide users the option to increase or decrease of that, depending on their own likes,” said a platform representative.

Scale of AI Content

TikTok shared that there are currently over a billion videos on its service labeled as AI-generated. Collectively, over 100 mn media items are added to the platform daily, making AI-generated material a minor part of its total content library.

Customizing Your Feed

Viewers will be able to reduce or increase the level of AI content they view by accessing the content preference setting in the app and selecting “AI-generated content”. Other topics that can already be controlled under the setting include current affairs, clothing, beauty, and dance.

Content Labeling and Policies

TikTok’s guidelines mandate creators to tag lifelike AI-generated content, and it bans harmful fake videos of celebrities or emergencies. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is not labeled can be taken down under its community policies.

Additionally, the service will now apply an “AI-made” watermark to content made using its proprietary AI systems, or detected by an industry-wide initiative for recognizing content made by AI. This step is intended to deter users from trying to evade the tagging system.

Educational Initiatives

The platform is additionally introducing a $2 million educational fund for professionals and groups to create learning resources about ethical AI use. This initiative will assist charitable organizations focused on teaching computer science.

Platform Protection

The video-sharing app has justified its moderation strategy, during debate over plans to cut jobs for hundreds of safety staff in Britain. TikTok is set to eliminate 439 jobs in its user protection division in the UK capital, with trade unions and digital protection specialists voicing alarm that staff are being displaced by machine-led review.

A company official stated that people-led review would remain essential, but AI can shield workers by filtering out the most graphic content before it gets reviewed by humans. The platform announced a 76% decrease in explicit and harmful content reviewed by safety staff over the past year due to the use of its automated systems.

We believe it is crucial to integrate people and machines to maintain a secure environment,” she said. “We’ll have staff as part of that process, but we also think it’s highly necessary to reduce exposure to dangerous material as swiftly, which is the area in which a extensive automated help is making a difference work at speed.”