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The platform is rolling out a updated setting that permits them to cut down on the volume of artificial intelligence-produced content appearing in their timelines. This step comes as the platform disclosed that it now features in excess of 1 billion AI-generated clips.

Pilot Phase and Launch

The new functionality is being tested over the following weeks before a widespread release. This shift coincides with a rise in AI-generated material, spurred by new video-generation tools.

The Broader AI Trend

Studies have shown that almost a tenth of the fastest-growing channels on a competing service primarily display clips produced artificially. A large amount of this material is considered “AI slop”, a label for poor-quality, mass-produced content that is frequently illogical or surreal.

“We know from our community that a lot of users enjoy content created using AI tools, ranging from computer-generated images to informative clips, and we want to give people the option to adjust the amount of that, depending on their own choices,” commented a platform representative.

Scale of AI Content

The platform shared that there are currently 1.3bn videos on its service identified as artificially created. In total, over 100 mn media items are uploaded to the platform daily, making clips made by AI a limited portion of its complete catalog.

User Control Features

Viewers will be able to reduce or increase the level of artificial media they watch by opening the content preference option in the app and choosing the AI content topic. Additional categories that can already be controlled under the setting cover current affairs, clothing, cosmetics, and choreography.

Platform Guidelines

The platform’s policies require users to label lifelike artificially created content, and it forbids harmful fake videos of celebrities or crisis events. Any authentic-looking artificial content that is not labeled can be deleted under its terms of service.

Additionally, the service will henceforth add an artificially created watermark to content produced via its built-in AI features, or detected by an industry-wide initiative for recognizing artificial media. This measure is designed to stop users from attempting to evade the tagging system.

Educational Initiatives

TikTok is additionally introducing a $2 million AI literacy fund for professionals and groups to develop learning resources about ethical AI use. This initiative will support educational bodies focused on teaching coding and technology.

Content Safety Approach

TikTok has defended its moderation strategy, following discussion over plans to cut jobs for a large number of safety staff in Britain. TikTok is planning to cut hundreds of positions in its user protection department in its British office, with worker representatives and online safety experts raising concerns that staff are being displaced by AI moderation.

A trust and safety lead stated that people-led review would remain essential, but artificial intelligence can protect employees by eliminating the most graphic content ahead of it is viewed by humans. The company announced a significant reduction in explicit and harmful content handled by safety staff over the past year due to the use of its AI tools.

It is vital to balance people and machines to ensure user safety,” she said. “We’ll have people as part of that process, but we also think it’s very important to minimize viewing of harmful content as quickly as possible, which is why a extensive automated help is really helping us work at speed.”