The platform is rolling out a new feature that permits them to cut down on the quantity of AI-created media appearing in their feeds. This move comes as the company announced that it currently hosts over 1 bn content made with AI.
Pilot Phase and Launch
This change is undergoing trials over the following weeks before a global launch. This development coincides with a rise in AI content, driven by recent video-generation tools.
The Broader AI Trend
Studies have shown that approximately one in 10 of the quickest rising channels on a competing service primarily display content made by AI. A significant portion of this material is considered “AI slop”, a label for substandard, factory-style content that is often nonsensical or surreal.
Our research shows that a lot of users appreciate content created using AI tools, including digital art to science explainers, and we want to offer the community the option to see more or less of that, depending on their own choices,” commented a company executive.
AI on the Platform
The service shared that there are presently over a billion videos on its service identified as AI-generated. Overall, more than 100 m media items are submitted to the app each day, making AI content a limited portion of its overall inventory.
Customizing Your Feed
Members will be able to decrease or raise the amount of AI content they see by accessing the content preference setting in the app and selecting the AI content topic. Further subjects that are already be controlled under the filter encompass politics, clothing, cosmetics, and dance.
AI Disclosure Rules
TikTok’s guidelines mandate users to label “realistic” AI-made content, and it bans malicious deepfakes of celebrities or crisis events. Any realistic AI-generated clip that is without a tag can be taken down under its user guidelines.
Additionally, the app will henceforth add an artificially created watermark to content made using its built-in AI features, or detected by an industry-wide initiative for recognizing AI-generated material. This step is aimed to stop users from attempting to bypass the labeling process.
Educational Initiatives
TikTok is furthermore establishing a $2 million AI literacy fund for specialists and groups to create educational content about responsible artificial intelligence. This project will support educational bodies focused on teaching programming and robotics.
Moderation Strategy
The video-sharing app has supported its moderation strategy, following debate over proposals to cut jobs for a large number of review team members in the United Kingdom. It is expected to reduce a significant number of roles in its user protection team in its British office, with labor groups and online safety experts voicing alarm that humans are being replaced by automated systems.
A trust and safety lead explained that people-led review would remain essential, but automated tools can shield workers by filtering out the most distressing content before it gets reviewed by people. TikTok announced a 76% decrease in shocking and graphic content reviewed by safety staff over the previous year due to reliance on its automated systems.
“We think that it’s essential to integrate humans and technology to ensure user safety,” the official commented. “We’ll have people as integral to the approach, but we further consider it’s very important to reduce exposure to unsafe media as quickly as possible, which is where a lot of the machine support is proving valuable work at speed.”
