Users will soon have a new feature that permits them to reduce the quantity of AI-created media appearing in their timelines. This initiative comes as the company disclosed that it now features in excess of 1 thousand million AI videos.
Testing and Rollout
The update is in a pilot phase over the following weeks before a global rollout. This shift coincides with a surge in content created by AI, driven by new content generation software.
AI Proliferation Online
Studies have shown that approximately one in 10 of the fastest-growing content creators on another major platform only show clips produced artificially. A significant portion of this content is classified as mass-produced AI material, a term for poor-quality, factory-style content that is typically nonsensical or bizarre.
Our research shows that a lot of users enjoy content produced via AI tools, ranging from digital art to science explainers, and we intend to provide users the option to adjust the amount of that, based on their own preferences,” said a company executive.
AI on the Platform
The platform disclosed that there are currently 1.3bn videos on its app tagged as made with AI. In total, in excess of 100 mn media items are uploaded to the service every day, making clips made by AI a minor part of its complete catalog.
User Control Features
Viewers will be in a position to reduce or increase the amount of AI content they watch by using the topic control option in the platform and choosing “AI-generated content”. Other topics that can already be modified under the tool cover current affairs, clothing, beauty, and choreography.
Content Labeling and Policies
TikTok’s rules oblige content makers to tag “realistic” AI-generated content, and it prohibits malicious fake videos of well-known individuals or emergencies. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is without a tag can be removed under its community policies.
In addition, the service will from now on apply an artificially created tag to content produced via its proprietary AI systems, or detected by an collaborative effort for identifying artificial media. This measure is aimed to deter users from trying to circumvent the tagging system.
Responsible AI Funding
TikTok is also establishing a $2 million AI literacy fund for professionals and institutions to produce educational content about ethical AI use. This program will benefit educational bodies dedicated to educating programming and robotics.
Platform Protection
The video-sharing app has justified its moderation strategy, during debate over intentions to make redundant numerous content moderators in the United Kingdom. TikTok is set to reduce hundreds of positions in its content moderation team in its British office, with labor groups and online safety experts expressing worry that staff are being displaced by machine-led review.
A trust and safety lead clarified that staff-based oversight would still have a role, but AI can shield workers by removing the most graphic content ahead of it gets reviewed by people. TikTok stated a 76% decrease in disturbing and violent content handled by safety staff over the past year due to reliance on its AI tools.
“We think that it’s essential to combine staff and AI to keep the platform safe,” she said. “We’ll have staff as part of that process, but we also think it’s extremely critical to reduce exposure to unsafe media as rapidly, which is where a lot of the machine support is making a difference work at speed.”
