Users will soon have a new feature that permits them to lessen the volume of AI-created media appearing in their feeds. This initiative comes as the platform revealed that it currently hosts over 1 thousand million AI-generated clips.
Pilot Phase and Launch
The update is being tested over the next few weeks before a full-scale release. This shift aligns with a surge in content created by AI, fueled by emerging video-generation tools.
The Broader AI Trend
It has been noted that approximately 10% of the fastest-growing content creators on another major platform primarily display clips produced artificially. A large amount of this content is classified as “AI slop”, a phrase for inferior, factory-style content that is often absurd or bizarre.
Based on user feedback that a lot of users enjoy content made with AI tools, ranging from digital art to educational videos, and we aim to provide users the option to increase or decrease of that, based on their own choices,” said a platform representative.
Volume and Proportions
TikTok shared that there are currently 1.3 billion videos on its app tagged as artificially created. Collectively, over 100 mn media items are submitted to the app each day, making AI content a relatively small portion of its overall inventory.
User Control Features
Members will be able to reduce or increase the amount of AI content they see by accessing the topic control option in the app and selecting AI-made media. Other topics that can already be adjusted under the tool include current affairs, fashion, cosmetics, and movement.
Platform Guidelines
TikTok’s guidelines mandate creators to label lifelike AI-generated content, and it forbids dangerous deepfakes of celebrities or critical incidents. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is unmarked can be removed under its terms of service.
Furthermore, the app will now add an AI-generated tag to content produced via its proprietary AI systems, or identified by an cross-platform project for spotting artificial media. This action is intended to help prevent users from trying to bypass the tagging system.
Educational Initiatives
The platform is also launching a $2 million educational fund for experts and organizations to create learning resources about ethical AI use. This program will benefit charitable organizations focused on educating computer science.
Moderation Strategy
The video-sharing app has defended its moderation strategy, following discussion over intentions to make redundant hundreds of review team members in the UK. The company is set to cut a significant number of roles in its user protection department in its British office, with trade unions and digital protection specialists raising concerns that humans are being replaced by machine-led review.
A trust and safety lead explained that staff-based oversight would remain essential, but artificial intelligence can protect employees by filtering out the most harmful content prior to it has to be seen by staff. TikTok reported a significant reduction in disturbing and violent content seen by content reviewers over the last 12 months due to intervention by its automated systems.
We believe it is crucial to balance humans and technology to keep the platform safe,” the executive stated. “We’ll have humans as integral to the approach, but we additionally believe it’s very important to minimize viewing of dangerous material as rapidly, which is where a significant AI assistance is really helping us process content quickly.”
