YouTube creators can now opt into third-party AI training [Video]

Content creators, artists, and publishers have become increasingly critical of how technology companies rely on their output to train artificial intelligence (AI) models. Slowly, companies are taking note. 

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On Monday, YouTube announced that it will now allow creators and rights-holders to choose whether “third-party companies [can] use their content to train AI models directly in Studio Settings under ‘Third-party training.'” The decision comes after YouTube creators complained that leading tech companies used their creative material to train AI models without their consent or compensation. 

Generative AI companies scrape the web or tap other data sources (sometimes licensed, sometimes not) to train models. OpenAI and Google used YouTube transcripts to train Whisper, an AI transcription tool, without the creators’ explicit knowledge. 

Artists, designers, and publishers have expressed concerns about copyright and being paid for their …