YouTube Unveils AI Detection Tools to Protect Creators and Combat Deepfakes

YouTube vows to protect creators from AI fakes

Incoming tools will let creators find and take down fakes of their own voices and faces, among other protections. If you watch as much YouTube as I do, you've no doubt been inundated with AI in the last year or so. AI-generated thumbnails, AI-generated voiceovers, even full-on AI-generated video is now in the cards. Well, YouTube has taken notice and has officially promised to protect the creators on its platform with new tools. YouTube's infamous Content ID system -- the thing that makes YouTubers freak out whenever someone starts humming a song because they don't want their video demonetized -- is being augmented with new AI-hunting tools. Content ID can now search for AI-generated singing voices based on existing artists. This tool is apparently being refined "with [YouTube's] partners," with a plan to implement it beginning in 2025. What about the kind of AI generation that can create images or videos? YouTube says that it's working on that too, "actively developing" tech that can detect and manage (read: take down) videos with AI-generated faces based on existing people. There's no timeframe for when this will reach the hands of users or partners. YouTube also says it's working against systems that are scraping its content to train AI models, which has been a hot-button topic lately. Nvidia has been known to collect publicly accessible videos from YouTube to train its models, which may violate YouTube's terms of service. Training larger models for video generation is a topic of competition within the increasingly competitive AI industry, in which YouTube and Google are active participants. But individual users and artists are likely more worried about targeted scraping that's designed to steal and replicate their likeness. Various tools that claim to train themselves on YouTube data are easy to find and set up, even on relatively low-power consumer hardware. How exactly will YouTube prevent this? Is it even possible? So far, it hasn't been explicitly spelled out. "We'll continue to employ measures to ensure that third parties respect [the terms of service], including ongoing investments in the systems that detect and prevent unauthorized access, up to and including blocking access from those who scrape." Notably, YouTube's terms of service do not prevent YouTube itself or owner Google from processing videos on the platform for its own AI tools. Though newer restrictions require YouTube's video creators to disclose the use of AI for synthetic images, videos, and voices, Google has allowed OpenAI to scrape YouTube content without legal challenge... because it was afraid of establishing a standard for the AI tools it was developing itself, according to a New York Times report from April.

YouTube's new tools help it rat out AI singers that don't exist

Key Takeaways YouTube is developing AI detection tools for voices and faces to protect users from deepfakes. The tools aim to help users identify videos with simulated likenesses and voices, bolstering trust in content. Google must stay ahead of nefarious AI users to ensure YouTube's survival in the AI age. In the age of AI, it is important to ensure the technology is used responsibly. Google may have suffered a few setbacks in Search, but clearly, the YouTube team wants to stay on top of the tech to ensure its partners have the tools to detect and manage AI content that may simulate their singing. While the tool won't be ready until next year, YouTube is also working on new technology to manage AI content that shows user's likenesses. Clearly, YouTube is worried about AI being used to spoof artists' voices and faces, which is definitely a real concern, which is why it's encouraging to see YouTube out in front of the issue with plans to subdue nefarious actors on the platform. You can read the full details of YouTube's two new tools above. The first will give users the ability to detect AI simulating a user's voice, and the second will provide a tool for identifying AI-created faces. Ideally, these tools will allow users to strike down videos using simulated likenesses and voices. While Google's post is couched in language detailing how it will protect artists, actors, and athletes, one would hope the tech will reach beyond the glitterati and be available for the common user. Luckily, users can already report deepfakes of themselves. Responsible AI generation and detection tools go hand in hand Of course, YouTube already offers a few AI features for generating content on the platform, such as its experimental Dream Screen for Shorts that can generate backgrounds. These lean into YouTube's goal of offering safe ways to use AI following its stated guidelines, but of course, not everyone will use the included tools but use outside tech, which is why safeguards are needed, like the two proposed tools revealed today. In a world where it is growing more and more difficult to separate reality from AI, YouTube's newly proposed AI detection tools are surely going to be welcome additions to the Content ID system. After all, if nobody can trust the content on YouTube, it surely won't survive past the AI age, which is why Google will have to stay on its toes, keeping one step ahead of those using AI to spoof and trick users. It won't be an easy job, but surely Google, of all companies, has the ability to see it through. Related Google is already delivering on the Apple Intelligence promise Android takes the lead with AI

YouTube is developing AI detection tools for music and faces, plus creator controls for AI training

YouTube on Thursday announced a new set of AI detection tools to protect creators, including artists, actors, musicians and athletes from having their likeness, including their face and voice, copied and used in other videos. One key component of the new detection technology involved the expansion of YouTube's existing Content ID system, which today identifies copyright-protected material. This system will be expanded to include new synthetic-singing identification technology to identify AI content that simulates someone's singing voice. Other detection technologies will be developed to identify when someone's face is simulated with AI, the company says. Also of note, YouTube is in the early stages of coming up with a solution to address the use of its content to train AI models. This is an issue for some time, leading creators to complain that companies like Apple, Nvidia, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google, among others, have trained on their material without their consent or compensation. YouTube hasn't yet revealed its plan to help protect creators (or generate additional revenue of its own from AI training), only says that it has something in the works. "...we're developing new ways to give YouTube creators choice over how third parties might use their content on our platform. We'll have more to share later this year," the announcement briefly states. Meanwhile, the company appears to be moving forward with its promise from last year when it said it would come up with a way to compensate artists whose work was used to create AI music. At the time, YouTube began working with Universal Music Group (UMG) and its roster of talent on a solution. It also said it would work on an expansion of its Content ID system that would be able to identify which rightsholders should be paid when their works were used by AI music. The Content ID system currently processes billions of claims per year, and generates billions in revenue for creators and artists, YouTube notes. In today's announcement, YouTube doesn't tackle the compensation component to AI music but does say it is nearing a pilot of the Content ID system's expansion with a focus on this area. Starting early next year, YouTube will begin to test the synthetic-singing identification technology with its partners, it says. Another solution in earlier stages of development will allow high-profile figures -- like actors, musicians, creators, athletes, and others -- to detect and manage AI-generated work that shows their faces on YouTube. This would go a long way to help prevent people from having their likeness used to mislead YouTube viewers, whether it's for endorsing products and services they never agreed to support, or to help spread misinformation, for instance. YouTube did not say when this system would be ready to test, only that it's in active development. "As AI evolves, we believe it should enhance human creativity, not replace it. We're committed to working with our partners to ensure future advancements amplify their voices, and we'll continue to develop guardrails to address concerns and achieve our common goals," YouTube's announcement said.

YouTube works to address AI-generated content management for creators with new tools - SiliconANGLE

YouTube works to address AI-generated content management for creators with new tools To safeguard creators on its platform and maintain the integrity of their content, Google LLC-owned YouTube today unveiled upcoming tools to detect and manage content generated through artificial intelligence. The company said it developed a new synthetic singing detection technology within its automated content identification system, Content ID, capable of labeling artificially generated voices. This new tool will permit partners to track and manage videos that mimic their singing voices - it will be ready for prime time sometime in early 2025. Content ID is an automatic system that tracks and manages copyright violations on YouTube and allows rightsholders to request takedowns or receive revenue from the reuse of their work. The company said that the automated system had brought in billions of claims and billions in new revenue for artists through the unauthorized reuse of their work. "We're committed to bringing this same level of protection and empowerment into the AI age," YouTube said in the announcement. For example, if a video mimicked a singer's voice to produce a song, AI detection could be used to take advertisement revenue from that video as if it was copied wholesale and send it to a rightsholder. YouTube also said it is developing a new technology that can detect deepfakes of faces that will be coupled with the company's recent updates to its privacy guidelines. The tech is aimed at celebrity users such as musicians, actors and others who might have their likenesses taken and used to produce fake videos. As text-to-image AI models have become more sophisticated so has the ease of creating deepfakes and video models have begun to follow suit. As more AI-generated content has proliferated on the internet, AI content generators have increasingly worked to add content labels to improve transparency. For example, Google said that it was working on ways to watermark and detect AI-generated images using Google DeepMind's SynthID, which is embedded in content created by its Gemini AI chatbot. Similarly, Meta Platforms Inc. labels AI-generated content uploaded to its social media networks using open-source technology classifiers developed by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity and the International Press Telecommunications Council. Social media video networking app TikTok started flagging AI-generated content in May, becoming one of the first video apps to do so. The AI tools on the platform already automatically flag content but users are expected to add labels themselves if it is AI-generated. Finally, YouTube noted that creators also may want more control over how their content might be used to train AI models. AI models require large amounts of data to build and train, including text and video; sites such as YouTube are often scraped for content. "When it comes to other parties, such as those who may try to scrape YouTube content, we've been clear that accessing creator content in unauthorized ways violates our Terms of Service," YouTube said. The unauthorized use of copyrighted content has plagued model development with lawsuits from industry interests and creators. AI music generators Suno Inc. and Uncharted Labs Inc., better known as Udio, were sued in June by three major record labels in two separate lawsuits alleging massive music copyright infringement. Universal Music Group N.V. filed a lawsuit against AI startup Anthropic PBC alleging widespread scraping of its client's song lyrics to train the company's chatbot Claude. YouTube said that it will continue to invest in better ways to block unauthorized access to protect creators from having their content misused by generative AI model developers. "That said, as the generative AI landscape continues to evolve, we recognize creators may want more control over how they collaborate with third-party companies to develop AI tools," the company said. There was no comment about revenue sharing or what this eventual collaborative effort with third-party generative AI platforms might look like. The company said that more details would be forthcoming later this year.

YouTube Makes AI Deepfake-Detection Tools for Voices, Faces

YouTube is working on multiple deepfake-detection tools to help creators find videos where AI-generated versions of their voices or faces are being used without consent, the Google-owned platform announced Thursday. Two separate tools are expected, but YouTube hasn't shared a release date for either one yet. The first is a singing voice-detection tool that will be added to YouTube's existing Content ID system. Content ID automatically checks for instances of copyright infringement and can take down entire movies or copies of songs that belong to an established musician, for example. This first AI-detection feature will mainly be for musicians whose voices are spoofed by AI to produce new songs, but it's unclear whether the tool will work effectively for less-famous artists whose voices are not widely recognized. It'll likely help big record labels keep AI impersonators off YouTube, however, and give the likes of Drake, Billie Eilish, or Taylor Swift the ability to find and take down channels posting AI songs that mimic them. The second detection tool will help public figures like influencers, actors, athletes, or artists track down and flag AI-generated media of their faces on YouTube. But it's unclear whether YouTube will ever proactively deploy the tool at any point to detect AI-generated images impersonating real people who aren't famous or uploading videos. Reached for comment, a YouTube rep didn't answer this directly but tells PCMag that YouTube's recently updated privacy policy lets anyone request the removal of deepfake or AI-generated impersonation content, so it looks like deepfaked individuals will have to actively hunt down impersonations to get them removed. YouTube did not respond to whether it would consider using this tool to proactively remove the scourge of AI-generated scam videos, either. These videos impersonate famous figures like Elon Musk and have popped up across YouTube countless times, often on hacked accounts, in the past few years. YouTube's Community Guidelines don't allow spam, scams, or deceptive content, but viewers must manually report the videos to get them taken down. While Google and virtually every other major tech firm have evangelized AI's potential and tried to find ways to add it to every corner of their businesses, the widespread, cheap, or free access to AI tools also means it's become much easier to make deepfake media of other people. Last year, one study found that the number of deepfake videos online has spiked 550% since 2021. It tracked over 95,000 deepfake videos on the internet, noting that 98% of them were porn and a staggering 99% of the impersonated individuals were women. The US Department of Homeland Security has also called deepfakes an "increasing threat," flagging misuse of the AI-powered "Wav2Lip" lip-syncing technology as cause for concern. Even just a 15-second Instagram video can be enough material to create deepfake pornography of a person, the DHS notes. Ultimately, YouTube says it wants AI to "enhance human creativity, not replace it," and is developing these new deepfake-detection tools to help public figures delete impersonations as they spread.

YouTube Develops Tool to Allow Creators to Detect AI-Generated Content Using Their Likeness

'Hogwarts Legacy' Sequel One of the "Biggest Priorities" for Warner Bros. Discovery, CFO Says One of the side effects of generative artificial intelligence tools proliferating is a surge of misuse. Actors, musicians, athletes, digital creators and others are seeing their likenesses digitally copied or altered, sometimes for less-than-noble reasons. The video platform YouTube says that it is developing new tools to tackle those problems, as well as the issue of AI companies attempting to scrape its content. In a blog post published Thursday morning, YouTube announced a pair of tools meant to detect and manage AI-generated content that uses their voice or likeness. The first tool, a "synthetic-singing identification technology" that will live within its existing Content ID system, and will "allow partners to automatically detect and manage AI-generated content on YouTube that simulates their singing voices." The company says that it is refining the tech, with a pilot program planned for early 2025. The second tool, which is still in development, "will enable people from a variety of industries -- from creators and actors to musicians and athletes -- to detect and manage AI-generated content showing their faces on YouTube." The company did not indicate when it thinks it will be ready to roll out. It is not immediately clear what creators will be able to do with the new tools, though Content ID gives rightsholders a menu of options, from pulling it down, removing rights-impacted content, or splitting ad revenue. YouTube is leaning into AI, releasing new tools like Dream Screen and a tool that uses AI to help creators come up with ideas for videos, but is is also leaning into the tech to help identify misuses. And the platform is also grappling with the insatiable demand for training data from AI firms like OpenAI and Anthropic. YouTube notes that it is a violation of its terms to scrape its data, and will fight efforts to do so. However, it also adds that some of its creators may have their own views on the subject, and is planning tools that would let creators have more say in how third-parties use their data. "As AI evolves, we believe it should enhance human creativity, not replace it," the company wrote in the blog post. "We're committed to working with our partners to ensure future advancements amplify their voices, and we'll continue to develop guardrails to address concerns and achieve our common goals."

YouTube is making new tools to protect creators from AI copycats

The first tool, described as a "synthetic-singing identification technology," will allow artists and creators to automatically detect and manage YouTube content that simulates their singing voices using generative AI. YouTube says the tool sits within its existing Content ID copyright identification system, and that it's planning to test it under a pilot program next year. The announcement follows YouTube's pledge last November to give music labels a way to take down AI clones of musicians. The rapid improvement and accessibility of generative AI music tools has sparked fears among artists regarding their use in plagiarism, copycatting, and copyright infringement. In an open letter earlier this year, over 200 artists including Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, and Katy Perry described unauthorized AI-generated mimicry as an "assault on human creativity" and demanded greater responsibility around its development to protect the livelihoods of performers.

YouTube launches two new tools for AI content management (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

YouTube has introduced new tools for creators and artists to manage and identify AI content that may have used their image or music, among other things, the company said in its blogpost on Thursday. YouTube said it has developed a new synthetic-singing identification technology within Content ID that will allow partners to automatically detect and manage AI-generated content on the platform that simulates their singing voices. The video platform said it is also actively developing new technology that will enable people, from creators and actors to musicians and athletes, to detect and manage AI-generated content showing their faces on YouTube. "As the generative AI landscape continues to evolve, we recognize creators may want more control over how they collaborate with third-party companies to develop AI tools," YouTube said in a statement.