YouTube Now Allows Users to Request Removal of AI-Generated Content that Simulates Their Face or Voice

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YouTube has quietly rolled out a policy change in June that allows users to request the takedown of AI-generated or synthetic content that simulates their face or voice. This change enables individuals to request the removal of such content under YouTube's privacy request process.

The policy expansion is part of YouTube's previously announced approach to responsible AI innovation, which aims to ensure that AI-generated content complies with the platform's Community Guidelines. Instead of requesting the content be taken down for being misleading, users can now request its removal directly as a privacy violation.

According to YouTube's updated Help documentation, the platform requires first-party claims, with some exceptions, such as when the affected individual is a minor, doesn't have access to a computer, is deceased, or other such cases.

Submitting a request for takedown doesn't guarantee the content's removal. YouTube will make its own judgment about the complaint based on various factors, including:

Whether the content is disclosed as being synthetic or made with AI
Whether it uniquely identifies a person
Whether the content could be considered parody, satire, or something else of value and in the public's interest
Whether the AI content features a public figure or other well-known individual
Whether or not it shows them engaging in "sensitive behavior" like criminal activity, violence, or endorsing a product or political candidate

YouTube will give the content's uploader 48 hours to act on the complaint. If the content is removed before that time has passed, the complaint is closed. Otherwise, YouTube will initiate a review. The company warns users that removal means fully removing the video from the site and, if applicable, removing the individual's name and personal information from the title, description, and tags of the video.

The company didn't broadly advertise the change in policy, but it introduced a tool in Creator Studio in March that allows creators to disclose when realistic-looking content was made with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI. YouTube is also testing a feature that would allow users to add crowdsourced notes that provide additional context on videos, like whether it's meant to be a parody or if it's misleading in some way.

YouTube is not against the use of AI, having already experimented with generative AI itself, including with a comments summarizer and conversational tool for asking questions about a video or getting recommendations. However, the company has warned that simply labeling AI content as such won't necessarily protect it from removal, as it will still have to comply with YouTube's Community Guidelines.

In the case of privacy complaints over AI material, YouTube won't penalize the original content creator. For creators, if you receive notice of a privacy complaint, keep in mind that privacy violations are separate from Community Guidelines strikes, and receiving a privacy complaint will not automatically result in a strike.