AI was the leading buzz on the internet in 2023, as the delivery of ChatGPT paved the way for companies to develop and adopt AI technology more dynamically. Artificial Intelligence has proven to be an efficient tool for companies and employees working with large data sets or were required to write considerably difficult documents.
However, AI was subject to controversy numerous times, especially because its answers were prone to bias. Unfortunately, it seems like any AI tool might have the same problem, considering the databases they use can be compromised. There’s also the problem of trust and safety regarding this new technological advancement because AI has been used in illicit ways a few times, raising severe investigations into how these situations can be controlled.
Considering these issues, more companies are taking action to ensure customers can leverage AI while being protected by its challenges. Meta, Google, and now TikTok are creating policies for AI-generated content, which has been the subject of deceitful practices during current conflict occurrences.
TikTok requires content creators to label their AI media
New guidelines provided by TikTok, the most emerging social media platform, require creators, or any user who leveraged AI features for their videos, to label this feature so that anyone interacting with the content can clearly see that AI software was involved in the development of the media.
Hence, if someone doesn’t respect this policy, the content will be deleted after the creator receives a few reminders of flagging the AI involvement. This came in as an extension of the issues during the pandemic when fake information was spread across social media. Now, with another incoming problem, companies must take a step ahead to protect their customers. It is expected that an automatic labeling feature will be available soon.
Of course, this won’t affect content creators in any way, especially if they’re being genuine with their audiences. Although AI is truly revolutionary for our time since it is consistently getting improved, it cannot replicate human content. On top of that, it can sometimes generate false information without realizing it, so content creators can’t always rely on it to boost their accounts or buy TikTok followers.
The company has also enhanced policy transparency
Besides introducing new rules and guidelines, TikTok also works on its existing ones by providing a rationale for the activities they allow or don’t on the platform. For instance, they’ve touched on the subject of election integrity since the presidential election in 2024 is slowly approaching, so it’s expected that people will take turns regarding their opinions. At the same time, the platform won’t allow posts and content that display fake information on how to vote or certify elections.
Additional changes are to be made in regard to how much exposure underage users will get, making their posts ineligible for showing in regular feeds. Moderators will receive better training as the policy gets integrated into the app, so we should expect better protection guidelines for minors.
The risks of AI-generated content were most poignant now
Generated AI is generally seen as beneficial by many, but if it’s in the wrong hands, it can cause disturbing social cases. For example, writers have a tough time at the moment because plagiarism claims are more frequent with the rise of AI being used for writing texts, so many publications and journalists discover that their creations are flashed as not unique due to outdated software.
At the same time, many deepfakes were posted on the internet for the sake of entertainment, but since they were so real, it was difficult not to believe them. Examples include manipulative images of Donald Trump getting arrested or the Pope who wears a puffer jacket. Of course, at a closer look, anyone can notice weird aspects of the image, such as blurred portions or unconventional backgrounds, but people are not used to spending that much time looking at one image.
But one of the worst things about generated-that it can manipulate entire communities. The latest occurrence regards the war between Israel and Hamas, where numerous fake images were posted on social media showing certain clubs supporting a side of the conflict, which was later proved untrue. These occurrences are considerably affecting the public’s opinions, which is the opposite of genuine and human journalism, which is only displaying the events as they unfold.
Users can use this technique to assess if content is real or not
There are a few ways to check for AI-generated content, from software solutions to certain app features. However, people can use their own perceptions accompanied by the SIFT technique. The method is an abbreviation for the following steps of assessing an image’s authenticity:
- Stop and have a second look at what you see;
- Investigate the source providing the image;
- Find similar resources;
- Trace the original post;
It might take some time for research to be done in order to find the true source of the content. However, this is the right choice for discovering the accuracy of the information shared on social media, which is important for mitigating misinformation, the worst problem of modern humans.
Unfortunately, people don’t spend that much time analyzing what they’re seeing since they’re used to scrolling mindlessly, another issue of the century.
Indeed, the social media fever has gotten the best of us, and it’s difficult to stop it, as it has been observed that it gives some sort of an addition to most users, offering new content. But to fight the risks of getting fake information, people must stop for a second and analyze what is displayed online. Sometimes, our eyes deceive us, which is why we should interpret posts analytically.
Final considerations
TikTok introduces a new feature that allows content creators to make AI-generated content visible for all users so they’ll know when almost-real photos or videos are the subject of AI software. This new guideline was introduced as a measure to mitigate misinformation created through Artificial Intelligence, which has spread considerably recently.
