By: Jessica Jin

When using social media apps like TikTok, you may have seen AI-generated storytelling videos. While they might seem harmless at first glance, these videos can be violent or racist to young children seeing them.

AI-generated storytelling videos feature realistic images based on made-up or real people. These photos can move and talk with a robot-like voice. People can create these videos in only a couple of minutes if they use a free app.

These storytelling videos can get weird. Some videos will depict children talking about a silly made-up story. But other times, the fictional tales can get out of hand. These fake kids sometimes discuss brutal and offensive stories. They could be about suicide or deadly consciences for incidents that never happened. Those types of stories can appear on young children’s feeds.

TikTok and many other social media apps have created rules forbidding harmful AI storytelling videos. CBC Kids News, who has been studying the AI’s stories, has reached out to TikTok, the main app with AI storytelling videos. They expressed their concerns with the AI-generated content to Danielle Morgan. She is the communication lead for TikTok in Canada. Morgan says that TikTok is taking the AI’s stories very seriously.

Morgan says that TikTok has now made rules for AI videos. Some rules are against disrespect or extreme violence. AI videos aren’t allowed to have characters based on real life children, but public figures are allowed. Also, TikTok is only allowing accounts associated with someone over 18 to post AI videos.

The videos generated by AI can be disturbing and offensive. So TikTok and other apps have made rules to hopefully prevent unkind videos from surfacing and being watched by children. But some inappropriate videos might get through because of how easy and quick it is to make an AI generated video.

Sources:

Is this real or not? What to know about the AI storytelling video trend | Article | Kids News (cbc.ca)