Remember how, just a couple of years ago, you could reliably use the internet without your senses being assaulted by AI slop content? That was a nice former baseline and unlikely to be reached again, despite various regulation attempts. The latest example of this regulation comes from TikTok, which, according to The Verge, is testing a new sliding setting to allow users whether they would like to see more or less AI content on their feeds.
TikTok already has sliding scales that let users determine how much they want to see of other categories of content, like current affairs, dance, or food and drink. The app plans to add invisible watermarks to AI-generated content to help this filter work. People often remove the watermarks to AI-generated content out of, we guess, deviousness, so the invisible watermark will supposedly enable the filter to work even when someone is hellbent on tricking you with a video of a bear on a trampoline. Of course, this will only work with AI content made on the app, and it’s not clear that sliding the AI-level all the way to the “less” side will actually prevent you from seeing any slop at all. Regardless, the outlet reports that this is still in the testing phase with no clear timeline of when this might actually come to the average app.
Also still unclear is what’s going on with TikTok in general; Donald Trump signed a vague executive order to “save” the app in late September before the U.S. government shut down for 43 days. The Verge also looked into that issue earlier this week and discovered… that no one really seems to know what’s going on.
