For years, YouTube buried AI labels where no one looked. That changes now — and the platform will start finding undisclosed AI content itself.
YouTube is getting serious about AI transparency — and this time, it’s making the labels hard to miss.
The platform has announced it is relocating AI disclosures for both long-form videos and Shorts to more prominent positions and will begin automatically identifying and labeling AI-generated content it detects.
For regular videos, the AI label will now appear directly below the video player, above the description — replacing a system that buried disclosures inside an expandable description section most viewers never opened. For Shorts, the label will appear as an on-screen overlay, consistent with a format YouTube has been quietly testing for some time.
“By moving these labels onto the main stage, viewers get the context they need at a glance,” YouTube said. “This is now the single label format for all photorealistic and meaningfully AI-altered or generated content on YouTube.”
The more significant change may be on the detection side. YouTube says it is rolling out new internal signals this month to automatically identify and label AI-generated videos — meaning creators who fail to disclose AI use will no longer simply go unnoticed. If YouTube’s systems detect significant use of photorealistic AI and no disclosure has been made, a label will be automatically applied.
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Creators who believe content has been incorrectly flagged can update their disclosure status in YouTube Studio. However, content produced using YouTube’s own AI tools — including Veo and Dream Screen — or that carries C2PA metadata confirming full AI generation will include permanent disclosures that cannot be removed.
YouTube already uses C2PA markers and Google’s SynthID to detect synthetic content. These updates represent a commitment to act more consistently on what those systems detect, particularly for AI-generated videos designed to mimic real people and photorealistic environments.
The company says the disclosure labels will not affect monetization or recommendation algorithms.
