YouTube tests AI video sharpening on Shorts without opt-out, sparking transparency concerns
YouTube quietly rolled out AI-powered video sharpening and denoising on Shorts, altering creators’ uploads without warning or opt-out. Users spotted odd artifacts and oversmoothing; Google insists it’s “traditional machine learning,” not generative AI. After YouTuber Rhett Shull flagged the changes, Google confirmed the test but hasn’t said if creators can disable it. Unlike Pixel 10’s transparent AI labels for photos, YouTube videos remain unlabeled, raising transparency and creator-reputation concerns as AI edits spread.