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YouTube AI disclosure

altered or synthetic content label / AI use setting on YouTube / YouTube AI generated label

In short

YouTube AI disclosure is the AI use setting a creator must turn on when a video contains realistic content made or meaningfully altered with AI. YouTube then labels the video, and says disclosure does not limit a video's audience or its eligibility to earn money.

The rule turns on realism. YouTube requires disclosure for content that puts words or actions in a real person's mouth, alters footage of a real event or place, or generates a realistic scene that never occurred. The requirement covers content made fully or partly with AI.

Much of how businesses use AI needs no disclosure. YouTube's examples of what creators do not need to disclose include non-realistic content, beauty and lighting filters, background blur, AI help with a script, title or thumbnail, captions, and cloning one's own voice for voice-overs.

Promotional video is where the line bites. YouTube's own list of content that needs disclosure includes AI-generated extra footage of a real place, such as a surfer in Maui for a promotional travel video, and AI-generated music.

YouTube may also apply the label itself. It names content made with YouTube's own AI tools, content carrying C2PA metadata, and content its systems detect as AI-made. C2PA is an open standard for recording the origin and edits of digital content. Creators who consistently choose not to disclose may get a label applied manually, or penalties including removal of content or suspension from the YouTube Partner Program.

In practice

A resort's marketing team makes a YouTube video with AI-generated shots of its real beach at sunset and a script drafted with AI. The AI footage of a real place needs the AI use setting set to Yes. The AI-drafted script does not. Selecting Yes adds the label and, by YouTube's account, costs the video no reach.

Why it matters to you

AI-made footage of a real place, product or person in a promotional video is exactly the kind of content YouTube requires creators to disclose. Disclosing costs nothing in reach by YouTube's account. Repeatedly skipping it risks a manual label, removed videos or suspension from the Partner Program.

What to ask or check

  1. 01Does the video show any realistic scene, place or person that was generated or meaningfully altered with AI?
  2. 02Was the AI use setting answered for each upload, and by whom?
  3. 03Has YouTube Studio shown a notification that an AI label was applied automatically?

What people get wrong

That disclosing AI use hurts a video. YouTube says disclosing AI content will not limit a video's audience or affect its eligibility to earn money.

Keep reading

AI content disclosure

AI content disclosure is labeling material as machine-made where a platform requires it. Google's product listings require AI-generated images to carry a specific IPTC metadata code, and IPTC defines three different codes: created with generative AI, edited with it, and edited by a person.

Placement

Placement means where your ad appears, but the two big platforms mean different things by it. On Google a placement is somebody else's website, app or video. On Meta it is a surface inside Meta, like the Facebook feed or an Instagram story, plus its Audience Network of third party apps.

Google-Extended

Google-Extended is a robots.txt token that controls whether content Google crawls from your site may be used to train Gemini models and ground Gemini apps. Google states it does not affect your inclusion in Search or your ranking. It is a training control, not a way to stay out of search results.

AI performance report

An AI performance report shows how often AI search features show or cite your site. Google's version counts impressions in AI Overviews and AI Mode. Bing's counts citations and states its numbers do not indicate ranking, authority or placement. Neither publishes a position inside an AI answer.

AI Overviews

An AI Overview is the summary Google sometimes places above the results, with links to sources. Google says they are only shown when its systems judge them additive to classic Search, so they often do not trigger. There is no special file or markup that gets you into them.

Grounding

Grounding is tying an AI answer to retrieved sources rather than letting the model answer from memory. Google uses the word as a synonym for retrieval augmented generation. Microsoft treats groundedness as something you measure on a scale, which is the more useful way to think about it.

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