YouTube Expands AI Likeness Detection Tool to Entertainment Industry
New technology identifies deepfakes and AI-generated content featuring celebrities' faces, following pilot program and expansion to politicians
Quick Look
- YouTube announced Tuesday it is expanding its AI likeness detection technology to the entertainment industry, following pilot programs with creators and expansions to politicians and journalists.
- The tool, which works like Content ID but for simulated faces, helps protect celebrities and public figures from unauthorized AI-generated content like deepfakes.
- Major talent agencies including CAA, UTA, WME, and Untitled Management have supported the tool.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
YouTube's likeness detection technology operates similarly to its existing Content ID system, which identifies copyright-protected material. The new tool addresses the growing problem of AI-generated deepfakes being used in scam advertisements and unauthorized content featuring celebrities and public figures.
YouTube is expanding its new "likeness detection" technology, which identifies AI-generated content, such as deepfakes, to people within the entertainment industry, the company announced on Tuesday. The technology works similarly to YouTube's existing Content ID system, which detects copyright-protected material in users' uploaded videos, allowing rights owners to request removal or share in the video's revenue. Likeness detection does the same, but for simulated faces. The feature is meant to help protect creators and other public figures from having their identities used without their permission — a common problem for celebrities who find their likenesses have been used in scam advertisements. The technology was first made available to a subset of YouTube creators in a pilot program last year before expanding more broadly, to include politicians, government officials, and journalists this spring. Now, YouTube says the technology is now being made available to those in the entertainment industry, including talent agencies, management companies, and the celebrities they represent. The company has support from major agencies like CAA, UTA, WME, and Untitled Management, which offered feedback on the new tool. Use of the likeness detection tool does not require entertainers to have their own YouTube channels. Instead, the feature scans for AI-generated content to detect visual matches of an enrolled participant's face. Users can then choose to request removal of the video for privacy policy violations, submit a copyright removal request, or do nothing. YouTube notes that it won't remove all content, as it permits parody and satire content under its rules. In the future, the technology will support audio as well, the company says. Related to this, YouTube has also been advocating for similar protections at a federal level, with its support for the NO FAKES Act in Washington D.C. This would regulate the use of AI to create unauthorized recreations of an individual's voice and visual likeness.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
YouTube will expand likeness detection to support audio identification in the future
Very likely · Within months
NO FAKES Act will likely see continued advocacy from YouTube and other tech platforms
Likely · Within months
Open Questions
- How many entertainment industry figures have enrolled in the likeness detection program
- What specific criteria YouTube uses to determine if content violates privacy policies
- How the tool handles content that crosses between parody/satire and unauthorized use
