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YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without warning or permission

(www.bbc.com)
296 points jakub_g | 3 comments | 24 Aug 25 10:37 UTC | HN request time: 0.677s | source
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crazygringo ◴[25 Aug 25 13:19 UTC] No.45013548[source]▶
From the linked tweet from YouTube's head of editorial:

"No GenAI, no upscaling. We're running an experiment on select YouTube Shorts that uses traditional machine learning technology to unblur, denoise, and improve clarity in videos during processing (similar to what a modern smartphone does when you record a video)"

https://x.com/youtubeinsider/status/1958199532363317467?s=46

Considering how aggressive YouTube is with video compression anyways (which smooths your face and makes it blocky), this doesn't seem like a big deal. Maybe it overprocesses in some cases, but it's also an "experiment" they're testing on only a fraction of videos.

I watched the comparisons from the first video and the only difference I see is in resolution -- he compares the guitar video uploaded to YT vs IG, and the YT one is sharper. But for all we know the IG one is lower resolution, that's all it looks like to me.

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depingus ◴[25 Aug 25 14:47 UTC] No.45014469[source]▶
If you watch the youtube video[1] linked in the article you get a much better examples, that clearly look like AI slop. Tho I do understand that people's ability to discern AI slop varies wildly.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY

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crazygringo ◴[25 Aug 25 15:32 UTC] No.45014960[source]▶
> that clearly look like AI slop

That's not what AI slop means. There's no GenAI.

I watched the video. It's literally just some mild sharpening in the side-by-side comparison.

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depingus ◴[25 Aug 25 17:30 UTC] No.45016386[source]▶
Whatever youtube is doing adds a painted over effect that makes the video look like AI slop. They took a perfectly normal looking video, and made it look fake. As a viewer, if you can't tell or don't care... That's fine. For you. But at the very least, the creator should have a say.
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1. crazygringo ◴[25 Aug 25 17:53 UTC] No.45016665[source]▶
I don't think you know what "AI slop" means.

It's not making the videos look fake, any more than your iPhone does. Most of what's shown in the example video, it might very well be phones applying the effect, not YouTube.

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2. depingus ◴[25 Aug 25 18:15 UTC] No.45016989[source]▶
At no point did I say the video IS AI slop. Or that generative AI was used to make it, or the effect youtube applied to it. We actually have no idea what youtube did. We only see the result; which can be subjective.

To you, that result looks like it was shot with a phone filter. To me it looks like it was generated with AI. Either way, it doesn't really matter. It's not what the creator intended. Many creators spend a lot of effort and money on high-end cameras, lenses, lighting, editing software, and grading systems to make their videos look a specific way. If they wanted their videos to look like whatever this is, they would have made it that way by choice.

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3. ◴[25 Aug 25 19:39 UTC] No.45018049[source]▶