YouTube announced that it will expand its AI-generated content labeling mechanism, adding labels in YouTube Music to songs identified as primarily created with generative artificial intelligence, and will extend this labeling to the main YouTube app in the future. The mechanism will identify relevant songs by combining YouTube's own detection tools with analysis results from music partners, but the specific amount of AI-generated content needed to trigger a label is currently not yet clear.
YouTube said that generative AI is bringing new ways to experiment with music creation, and listeners also want to know whether the works they listen to were generated by AI. This change aims to increase transparency in music content and respond to the trend of AI-generated songs continuously flooding streaming platforms.
Currently, Apple Music has already launched tools for identifying AI-generated content and plans to introduce a "Made with AI" label by the end of the year; Spotify has launched the AI Personas feature to help users determine whether musicians are human-created. Deezer, Tidal, and Bandcamp have also taken measures to address issues of content authenticity and platform governance brought by AI music. A report released by Deezer earlier this year showed that 44% of newly uploaded tracks on its platform were AI-generated; Apple Music has also previously stated that more than one-third of the songs on its platform are entirely AI-generated content.
Meanwhile, the Recording Industry Association of America, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the Recording Academy, and the actors' union SAG-AFTRA are pushing for a two-tier labeling system of "AI-generated" and "AI-assisted." As AI music output grows, the industry is gradually improving content transparency through unified labeling, protecting creators' rights and listeners' right to know.