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TikTok is introducing a new feature that enables them to reduce the quantity of artificial intelligence-produced media appearing in their streams. This move comes as the platform announced that it presently contains over 1 billion AI-generated clips.

Trial and Implementation

The update is in a pilot phase over the coming weeks before a widespread rollout. This shift aligns with a surge in AI-generated material, driven by emerging AI video creators.

The Broader AI Trend

Recent reports that approximately a tenth of the fastest-growing content creators on a popular video site only show content made by AI. A large amount of this output is considered “AI slop”, a term for poor-quality, mass-produced content that is frequently absurd or dreamlike.

“We know from our community that a lot of users enjoy content made with AI tools, including computer-generated images to educational videos, and we intend to give people the option to increase or decrease of that, depending on their own choices,” commented a platform representative.

Volume and Proportions

The service announced that there are presently 1.3bn videos on its app identified as artificially created. In total, over 100 million pieces of content are uploaded to the app every day, making AI-generated material a limited portion of its complete catalog.

User Control Features

Members will be able to limit or boost the volume of AI content they watch by using the content preference option in the platform and picking the AI content topic. Other topics that can already be controlled under the tool include current affairs, fashion, aesthetics, and choreography.

Content Labeling and Policies

The platform’s rules oblige content makers to label convincing AI-generated content, and it bans malicious deepfakes of public figures or emergencies. Any believable AI-generated clip that is unmarked can be removed under its community policies.

Furthermore, the app will now attach an “AI-made” label to content made using its own AI tools, or identified by an collaborative effort for identifying artificial media. This action is aimed to help prevent users from attempting to evade the disclosure requirement.

Responsible AI Funding

TikTok is also establishing a $2m AI literacy fund for specialists and organizations to develop educational content about ethical AI use. This initiative will benefit charitable organizations focused on training computer science.

Content Safety Approach

The platform has defended its safety measures, following controversy over plans to cut jobs for numerous review team members in the UK. TikTok is expected to reduce 439 jobs in its user protection team in its British office, with trade unions and digital protection specialists raising concerns that people are being substituted by AI moderation.

A trust and safety lead explained that staff-based oversight would still have a role, but AI can safeguard staff by removing the most harmful content prior to it has to be seen by people. The platform reported a 76% decrease in disturbing and violent content seen by human moderators over the last 12 months due to the use of its machine learning processes.

We believe it is crucial to balance people and machines to ensure user safety,” the official commented. “We’ll have humans as part of that process, but we further consider it’s highly necessary to minimize viewing of harmful content as rapidly, which is why a significant AI assistance is proving valuable process content quickly.”