YouTube has announced plans to begin automatically identifying and labelling AI-generated content on its platform as the use of artificial intelligence in video creation continues to rise.
The company said the update marks a change from its earlier system, which depended on creators to voluntarily disclose when they used generative AI tools in their videos.
According to YouTube, its technology will now detect major use of photorealistic AI content and place labels on such videos for viewers.
“If a creator doesn’t specify whether or not they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label,” the platform stated in a blog post released on Wednesday.
The platform first introduced AI disclosure guidelines in 2024, asking creators to report when artificial intelligence had been used in their uploads. However, the rapid improvement of AI tools has made it increasingly difficult to tell the difference between real and computer-generated media.
Advanced AI video generators such as Google’s Veo 3.1 and Seedance, developed by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, are among the technologies driving the shift.
YouTube noted that creators who believe their videos were incorrectly flagged will be allowed to challenge the labels. The company also stressed that the new AI tags will not affect how videos are recommended to users on the platform.
Several digital platforms have started introducing similar measures in response to the growing amount of AI-generated material online. Music streaming platform Spotify is among the companies that have also rolled out automatic AI-content labelling systems.
The rise of AI-created videos, images and audio has sparked concerns globally, as the technology becomes more realistic and harder for audiences to distinguish from human-made content.
