Improving AI labels for viewers and creators

Introducing automatic AI detection

While we still require creators to manually disclose when they use realistic AI, we want to make the process more seamless and reliable. Starting in May 2026, we’re rolling out new internal signals to help identify AI-generated content.

If a creator doesn’t specify whether or not they used AI, but our systems detect significant photorealistic AI use, we will now automatically apply a label.

As this technology continues to improve, creators remain in control. If a creator thinks their content was incorrectly identified as AI-generated, they can update the disclosure status in YouTube Studio. However, disclosures will remain permanent in a handful of cases, including:

• Content created using YouTube’s own AI tools, like Veo or Dream Screen.
• Content containing C2PA metadata indicating they were fully generative AI.