YouTube has begun using artificial intelligence algorithms to process videos without the authors' knowledge or permission, following complaints from popular bloggers who noticed strange artifacts in their videos.
YouTube has begun using artificial intelligence algorithms to process videos without the authors' knowledge or permission, following complaints from popular bloggers who noticed strange artifacts in their videos.
Rick Beato’s music YouTube channel (5+ million subscribers) was the first to notice that his face looked «like it had makeup on,» according to a BBC report.
«I thought, 'Man, my hair looks weird.' And the closer I looked, the more it looked like I had makeup on,» Biato said.
His colleague, musician and blogger Rhett Shull, found similar problems in his own videos: over-sharpening of details, «plastic» skin, and facial deformations.
Users have been complaining about the strange effects since the summer of 2024, but only now has the company officially confirmed the experiment. YouTube’s communications director, Rene Ricci, said the changes affect videos in the YouTube Shorts format. The algorithms «blur noise, improve clarity and detail,» similar to the features of modern smartphones.
However, on smartphones, users apply such filters themselves, while on YouTube, creators have no choice.
«This is an example of a company changing content without the consent of its creators. This can blur the line between reality and an algorithmically created world,» says Samuel Woolley, an expert on information manipulation at the University of Pittsburgh.
