TikTok will automatically tag more AI-generated content on its app

TikTok is increasing its efforts to automatically tag AI-generated content on its app, even when it’s created with third-party tools. The company announced plans to maintain content credentials, a type that indicates the use of generative AI.

TikTok’s rules now require creators to provide “realistic” AI-generated content. But this policy can be difficult for the company to enforce, especially when creators use other companies’ AI tools. But because are increasingly used in the AI ​​industry, TikTok’s new automated tags should be able to address some of these gaps.

Often described as a “food label for digital content,” content credentials attach “forgery-proof metadata” that can trace the origin of the image and the AI ​​tools that were used to edit it along the way. This story can then be viewed by users if they come across a piece of AI-generated content on a platform that supports the technology.

TikTok says it will be the first video platform to support content credentials, though it will take some time before these tags become commonplace, as many companies are just starting to support the technology. (Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Adobe have pledged to support content credentials. Meta said it uses the standard to power tags on its platform as well.)

However, it is worth noting that content credentials and other systems that rely on metadata are not reliable. OpenAI Notes for a that the technology is “not a silver bullet” and that metadata “can easily be removed accidentally or intentionally.” Labels also just aren’t as effective if people don’t bother to read them. TikTok says it has a plan to address that, too. The company has partnered with fact-checking organization MediaWise and human rights organization Witness in a series of media literacy campaigns designed to educate TikTok users about labels and “potentially misleading” AI-generated content.