- YouTube is cracking down on disturbing AI content exploiting deceased or victimized children.
- This expands responsibilities around realistic, violent automated creations.
- The policy change aims to curb trauma from manipulative deepfakes celebrating child victimization.
YouTube has announced an update to its harassment policies, aiming to curb disturbing AI-generated content exploiting deceased or victimized minors. Starting January 16th, the platform will remove videos using life-like AI to depict child victims describing their deaths realistically.
Targets to eliminate true crime narratives
The policy change directly targets emerging true crime narratives that apply AI voices to recount details of high-profile child murder cases.
Recently, some creators have faced backlash for depicting the grim fates of children like James Bulger and Madeleine McCann by synthesizing first-person narrations.
Policies on automated creations
Violations will prompt strikes, potentially resulting in suspended uploading abilities or channel terminations.
This expands YouTube’s responsibilities around AI disclosures introduced last November, which similarly penalize unrealistic, violent synthetic media. The shocking AI content also prompted platforms like TikTok to require labels on automated creations.
Setting standards to avoid child victimization
With manipulative deepfakes raising societal concerns, YouTube’s latest enforcement appears in step with peers in disallowing realistic depictions celebrating child victimization.
However, balancing free speech with ethical AI usage remains tricky for tech firms. As algorithms advance to synthesize increasingly believable media, companies must grapple with setting standards to prevent potentially traumatic misuse while avoiding overreach.
