YouTube has made its altered-content labels harder to miss and has started using internal signals to apply some labels when creators do not disclose realistic AI use themselves.
For long-form videos, a disclosure for photorealistic and meaningfully AI-altered or generated content now appears directly below the player and above the description. On Shorts, the label appears over the video. Unrealistic, animated or only slightly altered material keeps its disclosure in the expanded description.
The placement matters because a warning inside a collapsed description asks the viewer to go looking for context. A label near the player becomes part of the viewing experience.
YouTube also says it began rolling out internal detection signals in May 2026. If a creator does not declare significant photorealistic AI use and the system detects it, YouTube may apply the label automatically. Creators can change the disclosure in Studio when they believe the system is wrong, but some labels remain permanent—including content made with YouTube’s own tools and files carrying C2PA metadata identifying fully generative media.
The rule is narrower than “everything touched by AI.” YouTube says creators must disclose realistic, meaningful alterations: making a real person appear to do something they did not do, altering footage of a real place or event, or generating a realistic scene that never happened. Minor colour changes, background blur, captions, idea generation and gameplay footage are among the examples that normally do not require disclosure.
YouTube also says the disclosure alone does not reduce recommendations or remove monetisation eligibility. Repeated failure to disclose can still lead to enforcement. The label supplies context; non-compliance creates the policy problem.
Confirmed: label positions, detection rollout, correction process, permanent-label examples, disclosure scope and YouTube’s statement about reach and monetisation.
Not confirmed: YouTube has not published an accuracy rate for its detector or stated how frequently automatic labels are applied.
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