YouTube has started using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve videos without telling the creators. This raises a big question, if artificial intelligence (AI) changes reality before we see it, how much can we trust what we watch?
Rick Beato, a YouTube musician with over five million subscribers, noticed something strange in one of his videos. “I thought my hair looked odd,” he said, adding, “It even looked like I was wearing makeup.”
At first, he couldn’t tell why. “I wondered if I was imagining it,” he added. But later it was proved that he wasn’t imagining it as YouTube has quietly been using artificial intelligence (AI) to tweak videos.
These changes are small. Shirts look sharper, skin is smoothed in some areas, and ears can even appear slightly warped. They are subtle, but some creators say the videos now feel artificial. Rhett Shull, another music YouTube and friend of Beato, found the same problem in his videos.
He posted a video about it, which gained over 5,00,000 views.
“This over-sharpening looks artificial intelligence. It mispresents my work and could harm the trust I have with my audience,” Shull said.
YouTube has confirmed it is experimenting with AI on a small number of videos in YouTube Shorts.
The company says it uses machine learning to “unblur, denoise, and improve clarity,” similar to features on modern smartphones. However, YouTube has not clarified if creators can opt out. Experts worry this could affect how people see reality.
Samuel Wooley, a professor studying disinformation, said, “Unlike smartphones, creators cannot control what AI does to their videos.”
This manipulates content without their consent. The issue is not new, Samsung in 2023, augmented Moon shots using artificial intelligence.
Google's Pixel phones similarly apply AI to alter smiles and zoom past the physical boundary.
These technologies enhance pictures but also produce moments that never really occurred.
Some see AI as a bigger version of past issues, like Photoshop or beauty filters.
“AI amplifies these changes to an extreme level,” said Wooley. He warns that this could blur the line between reality and digitally altered media.
Despite concerns, some creators like Beato are not upset. “YouTube experiments with new tools all the time,” he said, adding, “They changed my life, and I respect that.”
