TikTok wants to help you spot AI on the platform, filter it out
As social media users grow increasingly frustrated with the prevalence of AI-generated content—often dismissed as “AI slop”—major platforms are responding to this backlash with new features aimed at giving users more control over their feeds. Pinterest recently took a significant step by introducing a feature that allows users to filter out AI content entirely. Following suit, TikTok has announced plans to implement tools that will enable users to identify and reduce the amount of AI-generated content they encounter. This move comes as part of TikTok’s broader strategy to enhance user experience while acknowledging the rising concerns surrounding AI’s role in content creation.
TikTok’s forthcoming feature, integrated into the existing “Manage topics” function, will allow users to customize their exposure to AI-generated content across all categories, a first for the platform. This feature will join existing capabilities that let users refine their feeds based on specific content categories like “Current Affairs” or “Fashion & Beauty.” While TikTok emphasizes that it does not oppose AI—in fact, it sees potential in AI to enhance creativity and user safety—it underscores the importance of transparency. The company is also testing an “invisible watermarking” system to reinforce its labeling policies for AI content, ensuring users can easily identify the origins of the material they engage with. Additionally, TikTok is launching a $2 million AI literacy fund and joining the Partnership on AI, a non-profit organization dedicated to ethical AI practices.
The introduction of these AI content controls by TikTok may set a precedent for other social media platforms, prompting them to consider similar measures. As the demand for transparency and control over AI-generated content grows, it is likely that we will see more platforms following TikTok’s lead. This shift not only reflects user sentiment but also highlights a critical conversation about the future of content creation in an age increasingly dominated by AI technologies. With users seeking more authentic interactions and less algorithmically driven content, the question remains: which platform will be next to prioritize user agency in the face of AI?
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Social media users seem to be getting sick and tired of AI-generated content on their favorite platforms. And the backlash against AI-created content, or “AI slop” as it’s often referred to, is growing.
The big social media platforms appear to have noticed this anti-AI sentiment. Last month, for example, Pinterest launched a new feature that completely
filters out AI content
if users choose to do so.
Now,
TikTok just announced
that it is soon launching its own tools to help its users spot AI-generated content and see less of it if they choose to do so.
According to TikTok, the company is currently testing out a new content control in the “Manage topics” feature that will allow users to specifically adjust how much AI-generated content they see on the platform.
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The “Manage topics” feature already gives users the ability to tell TikTok’s algorithm what type of content they want to see in the For Your feeds as it pertains to a specific content category like “Current Affairs,” “Health & Fitness,” or “Fashion & Beauty.” The AI-generated content topic control is different then all those as it appears to be the first that spans all of TikTok’s topic categories and explicitly deals with
how
the content is created.
TikTok makes it pretty clear in its announcement that the company itself isn’t anti-AI, saying it “believes AI can transform how people share their creativity, discover new passions, and stay safe on our platform, when used transparently and responsibly” and that it “invests in AI-powered experiences that create value for our community.”
However, the company also stresses multiple times that it’s important to be transparent to users.
To aid in that transparency, TikTok is also testing an “invisible watermarking” solution to help bolster its current AI label policies. TikTok says this “invisible watermark” will help “add another layer of safeguards to our current AI-generated content transparency measures.”
In addition to that, TikTok is also launching a new $2 million AI literacy fund and joining the non-profit Partnership on AI, which studies and develops best practices for ethical AI.
TikTok’s AI content controls announcement may just open the floodgates for other social media platforms to filter out AI-generated content for users who choose to do so. In fact, the question may not be will they do it but which platform is next to do it?
