'A transparent platform is essential': Vimeo adds AI content labelling

As AI-related controversies grow in ubiquity, we've seen varying approaches from tech brands and platforms in recent months. Just last week, Nintendo decalred a wholesale rejection of generative AI. Others are promoting transparency, including video sharing platform Vimeo.

In a new blog post, Vimeo CEO Philip Moyer has announced that the platform's terms of service are being updated to ask creators to label AI-generated (or otherwise digitally manipulated) content. 

"The rise of deepfakes and other AI-generated media has made it increasingly difficult to distinguish between what’s real and what’s synthetic, which can erode trust, spread misinformation, and have harmful consequences for individuals and society," Moyer writes. 

Soon, Vimeo videos uploaded by creators who have voluntarily labelled AI use will feature a visible tag which reads 'Includes AI'. Vimeo recommends that the label should be applied to content that: "Portrays a real person saying or doing something they didn’t say or do, alters footage of an actual event or location, or "creates a lifelike scene that didn’t take place". Content that is clearly unrealistic or animated, or uses AI for minor production assistance, doesn't require labelling.

"We’re excited to work with this community to shape the future of storytelling, as we have for the last two decades," concludes Moyer. "We believe that a transparent platform is becoming an even more essential foundation for creators and viewers alike in this next generation of creativity."

Indeed, transparency is proving to be the thing that makes or breaks the online response to AI use right now. Adobe learned this the hard way after making an unexpected change to its terms and conditions. But as an independent cinema in London recently showed, AI controversies can be handled with openness and honesty.