In this era, where artificial intelligence is constantly taking over all technology, privacy concerns are increasing day by day. For instance, Meta has been accused of marking all images on Instagram as “AI image”, causing an uproar among artists. Similarly, YouTube has also been affected by this increase. To deal with the issues, YouTube has quietly introduced a policy to ensure the privacy of its users. The new policy change will allow users to request the removal of AI-generated or other fabricated content that mimics their face or voice. According to YouTube, this change is an extension of its previously announced approach to the responsible AI agenda that was introduced in November.

Earlier, users who wanted YouTube to remove any content like deepfakes were requesting the removal of the content due to it being deceptive. After this move, the video sharing website wants users or affected parties to directly request removal as it is a violation of privacy. As per YouTube’s recently updated video Help DocumentationThis requires first-party claims with certain exceptions, such as when the affected person is a minor, does not have access to a computer, has died, or other such exceptions.

However, it is not necessary that YouTube will remove the content immediately after the request. The website will decide on its own about the complaint, taking into account various criteria.

These parameters may include conditions such as whether the content is created with the help of AI, whether it uniquely identifies a person and whether the content can be considered a parody, satire or something else valuable and in the public interest. YouTube will also consider factors such as whether the AI-generated content features a public figure or celebrity, and whether it depicts them in sensitive situations such as illegal activities, violence or endorsing products or political candidates.

In addition, YouTube will also give the user who uploaded such content 48 hours to act on the complaint. If the content is removed before this time, the complaint will be closed. Otherwise, YouTube will start the review process. YouTube warns that if this happens, the company will not only remove the video from the site completely, but may also remove the person’s name and personal information from the video’s title, description, and tags.

Users can also blur the faces of people in their videos, but they cannot make the video private to comply with a takedown request, as the video can be set back to public status at any time. Before making this a policy, the company previously warned that simply labeling AI content as such would not necessarily protect it from removal, as it must still comply with YouTube’s Community Guidelines.