GoKawiilIt’s almost impossible to avoid seeing AI-generated content online, but it doesn’t have to be this way. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and more have ramped up content authentication efforts over the last year, with many now automatically applying labels to distinguish AI-generated images, videos, and music from those made by real, human creators.
That’s all very well and good if we’re just stumbling across labeled content at random, but you know what would be better? Letting us filter out the AI slop.
Current labeling efforts haven’t meaningfully changed how content is presented online. You may notice that some TikTok or YouTube videos in your feeds now have AI disclosures in the description, or information labels overlaid onto the clip itself. Meta takes a similar approach by applying “AI info” labels to images on Facebook and Instagram that carry identifying AI metadata or voluntary disclosures from the creators.
But if you want to actually avoid seeing anything tagged with such labels — which is justifiable, given the brain rot it induces on top of the ethical and environmental concerns around generative AI — it’s actually incredibly difficult to do so. A filter would easily solve this. All we need is an “AI” checkbox to toggle.
I reached out to Meta, Google, TikTok, and Spotify to ask if they have plans to let users filter the various content they’ve been authenticating with AI labeling systems. TikTok and Spotify never responded, and Google said it had nothing to share. Meta didn’t provide an attributable comment. But to summarize, none of these companies said “yes.”
Notice how DeviantArt chose “suppress” here rather than “exclude.” Image: DeviantArt / The Verge
One of the only online platforms that I’ve seen with an AI content filter is DeviantArt, and its implementation is extremely telling. For one, you can’t access it on DeviantArt’s feeds or store page, so it feels somewhat hidden away. Instead, you have to make an account and then hover over your user icon at the top-right of the page to find the “AI Content Settings” menu. From there, you only have two options: the default “Show AI” setting, or the “Suppress AI” option that claims you’ll see “fewer instances” of AI-generated or manipulated imagery.
Having tried both options, I, unfortunately, don’t see a notable difference. I’ve got a pretty good eye for spotting AI-generated “digital illustrations” at this point, but I didn’t have to rely on my suspicions alone — almost every dubious image I selected included a creator’s disclosure in the description that confirmed the work was spat out by a robot. DeviantArt does a poor job of automatically applying AI labels to images with metadata that clearly indicates AI provenance.
Pinterest has a similar system in place. Users who are signed into a Pinterest account can click on the settings icon, select “Refine your recommendations,” and then tap the “AI content” tab to toggle specific categories, including art, beauty, fashion, and home decor. Disabling any of these options will show you “less AI-modified content” for that particular category, according to Pinterest, but in my experience, it’s far from perfect. The setting is also arguably harder to find than a filter built into Pinterest’s feeds. I still saw plenty of images with suspicious AI tells (including uncannily perfect photography models and unexplainable illustration errors), despite the AI filters being maxed out.
I commend the customization options here, but these refinement options are hidden away and don’t actually work effectively. Image: Pinterest / The Verge
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