YouTube’s likeness detection has arrived to help stop AI doppelgängers

AI content has proliferated on the Internet in recent years, but these early confabulations involving mutated hands have evolved into synthetic images and videos that can be difficult to differentiate from reality. Having helped create this problem, Google has some responsibility for controlling AI videos on YouTube. To that end, the company has begun rolling out its promised likeness detection system to creators.

Google’s powerful, freely available AI models have helped fuel the rise of AI content, some of which aims to spread misinformation and harass individuals. Creators and influencers fear their brands will be tainted by a flood of AI videos that show them saying and doing things that never happened — even lawmakers are worried. Google has made a big bet on the value of AI content, so banning AI from YouTube, as many want, is simply not a reality.

Earlier this year, YouTube promised tools that would flag face-stealing AI content on the platform. The resemblance detection tool, which is similar to the site’s copyright detection system, has now expanded beyond the initial small group of testers. YouTube says the first group of eligible creators have been told they can use lookalike detection, but interested parties will need to provide even more personal information to Google to protect against AI knockoffs.

Currently, Lookalike Detection is a beta feature undergoing limited testing. So not all creators will see it as an option in YouTube Studio. When it appears, it will be inserted into the existing “Content Detection” menu. In YouTube’s demo video, the setup process seems to assume that the channel has only one host whose image needs to be protected. That person must verify their identity, which requires a photo of a government ID and a video of their face. It’s not entirely clear why YouTube needs this data in addition to the videos people have already posted with their faces being so stealable, but rules are rules.