• by Colin Kirkland , April 5, 2024

After consulting with stakeholders across the globe, Meta has decided to update the AI-generated content policy from 2020, when “realistic AI-generated content was rare.”

In May, the tech giant will begin adding “Made with AI” labels to content manipulated by both AI and people across Instagram, Facebook and Threads.

Meta’s Oversight Board has decided that its current approach to AI-generated content is “too narrow,” covering only “videos that are created or altered by AI to make a person appear to say something they did not say.” In other words, deepfakes –– the most common manipulated media in 2020 when Meta’s policy was written.

“In the last four years, and particularly in the last year, people have developed other kinds of realistic AI-generated content like audio and photos, and this technology is quickly evolving,” the company wrote in a blog post. “As the Board noted, it's equally important to address manipulation that shows a person doing something they did not do.”

Removing all manipulated content, the Oversight Board argues, is no longer appropriate as it may “unnecessarily risk restricting freedom of expression.” Therefore, Meta is taking a “less restrictive” approach by maintaining appropriate manipulated media by adding new labels.

Labels will be applied when users disclose the use of AI tools in the creation of a piece of content and when Meta detects “industry standard AI image indicators.” However, the company has not yet provided specifics on how its detection system works.

Meta also said it may add a more prominent label to digitally-created or altered images, video or audio that is thought to have a high risk of materially deceiving the public on a matter of importance. This type of label will provide users with “more information and context” about the media so they can better assess it when seeing it elsewhere on the internet.

Meta will start labeling AI-generated content in May. In July, the company will stop enforcing its 2020 policy that requires the immediate removal of all manipulated content from its family of social apps.