Snapchat Spotlight Bans Fully AI-Generated Videos to Combat Low-Quality AI Slop

Snapchat no longer rewards fully AI-generated Spotlight content

Snapchat is the latest company to strengthen its stance against AI slop. The social network platform will no longer reward fully AI-generated videos, as it seeks to prioritize human-made content. Snapchat announced the update on Friday, stating that its recommendation systems will be adjusted to ensure that only videos created by real people are eligible for Spotlight recommendations. Snapchat expressed in its blog post that it wants Spotlight to "remain a place where people can discover authentic creativity from real people, because we believe there's enduring value in rewarding original perspectives, personal storytelling, and the moments that people choose to create and share themselves." However, Snapchat clarified that it's not completely rejecting AI. Creators can still use its AI creative tools to enhance or edit their content. This update aligns with Snapchat's broader efforts to improve Spotlight and shift focus back to original posts that highlight human creativity. In April, the company indicated that users would see less AI-generated content. As criticism of low-quality AI-generated content (known as "AI slop") continues to rise, many companies are revising their policies to deprioritize such material in their algorithms, implement reporting features, or remove certain AI features altogether. For instance, LinkedIn recently launched a feature that allows users to click a button labeled "seems like AI slop" to report posts that seem AI-generated. Substack also introduced a tool to help users identify AI-written newsletters. Earlier this month, Meta faced significant backlash over an Instagram feature that allowed users to modify photos from public accounts using AI, leading the tech giant to remove the feature entirely. Additionally, YouTube has intensified its crackdown on low-quality AI content by clarifying monetization policies, so "inauthentic content" cannot be monetized, including generic, repetitive, or template-based content, and any content featuring AI personas discussing sensitive topics such as health and finance. In separate news, Snapchat implemented new content control measures to protect underage users last month. Those aged 13 to 15 will only be able to share Spotlight posts with people they follow back, aiming to guard against doxxing.

Snapchat is cracking down on AI slop in Spotlight - Engadget

Videos made with AI will no longer appear in public recommendations. Snapchat has become the latest platform to take a stance against AI slop. The app will no longer recommend "wholly AI-generated videos" in Spotlight, its public feed for shortform videos. "As low-quality, repetitive, AI-generated content becomes increasingly common across the internet, we want Spotlight to remain a place where people can discover authentic creativity from real people," the company wrote in an update. The change is meant to weed out entirely AI-generated material from being shown in Spotlight, even if the use of AI is disclosed by its creator. "Our content ranking algorithm rewards authentic, human-made content over wholly AI-generated content created outside of Snapchat, even when AI-generated content has transparency disclosures," the company's Spotlight guidelines state. Snap said the new rules aren't intended to be a rejection of AI entirely. The company has introduced several AI-powered features over the last few years, including AI-powered augmented reality effects and image editing tools. Creators are still permitted to use these effects and other AI tools to "enhance" their content, the company said. Snapchat adds visible watermarks to content created with its own AI tools. Social media platforms have grappled with how to treat the flood of AI-generated content. LinkedIn, which once promoted its own AI-writing tools, just announced it would remove the feature and allow users to report potential slop. Newsletter platform Substack recently added an AI detection feature. Pinterest last year said it would let users "dial down" AI-generated material in its recommendations.

Snapchat Banning Entirely AI-Generated Videos From Its Spotlight Platform

As short-form digital video appears to be heading toward a wave of AI-generated slop, Snapchat is setting new ground rules for how that sort of content can exist on its platform moving forward. The tech company on Friday said that it will ban wholly AI-generated videos in its Spotlight product, which surfaces trending and original content from creators and studios. "As low-quality, repetitive, AI-generated content becomes increasingly common across the internet, we want Spotlight to remain a place where people can discover authentic creativity from real people, because we believe there's enduring value in rewarding original perspectives, personal storytelling, and the moments that people choose to create and share themselves," the company said in a statement. AI is not banned altogether: Snapchat says that creators who have "enhanced or edited using Snapchat's AI creative tools" will still be eligible for Spotlight, noting that "for some, AI plays an important part of the creative process, and we believe it can unlock incredible new forms of expression." Nonetheless, banning entirely AI-generated videos is meant to crack down on prompt-driven slop, which has become more prevalent on every platform as video models like Google's Nano Banana and Seedance get better and better. It also seems like something of a pushback against Facebook and Instagram, which have been more open to AI content. In fact, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post Thursday that the company's Muse image and video models could lead to a "nearly infinite universe of personalized content." "This is going to make our services a lot more useful and engaging for people," he added. Snapchat seems to be betting that maybe humans will prefer something a little more human-led, even if AI isn't cut out from the process entirely.