YouTube Now Automatically Labels AI-Generated Videos

YouTube has announced a major update regarding transparency of artificial intelligence (AI) use on its platform. Starting this week, YouTube will automatically label videos detected as containing significant photorealistic AI content, even if creators do not disclose it manually. This move builds on a policy introduced in 2024 that required creators to inform viewers if they used AI tools for realistic content. Now, YouTube will automatically identify AI usage. ‘We consistently hear from our community that they value transparency around generative AI content. This change is designed to balance transparency with creator control,’ YouTube stated in a comment, cited by Variety on Thursday, 28 May 2026. Under YouTube’s guidelines, creators must still manually disclose AI use in their content. However, if they fail to do so and YouTube’s system detects significant photorealistic AI usage, an AI label will be applied automatically. Creators who believe their videos have been incorrectly labeled can adjust disclosure settings via YouTube Studio. However, YouTube has confirmed that in certain cases, AI labels will be permanent. These include videos made using YouTube’s own AI tools such as Veo or Dream Screen, and those containing C2PA metadata indicating the content was entirely AI-generated. C2PA is a standard from the ‘Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity’ used to track the origin and authenticity of digital content.