YouTube Partners with CAA to Combat AI-Generated Celebrity Deepfakes

YouTube Will Help Celebrities Find Videos Using Their Likeness in AI Deepfakes

The video sharing platform is partnering with talent agency CAA to test out new "likeness management technology." YouTube wants to help celebrities and professional athletes monitor for unauthorized uses of their likenesses created with AI. The company says it is partnering with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and will early next year begin testing "likeness management technology" that can surface AI-generated content that depicts a celebrity's likeness and give them an easy way to submit requests for removal. It was only a few years ago when the internet was mesmerized by a deepfake of Tom Cruise that went viral on TikTok. Back then, a lot of manual editing was required to create the ruse. The technology has come a long way with the rise of generative AI, however. There have already been countless examples of personalities like Joe Rogan being deepfaked to promote products and services unbeknownst to them. Deepfakes are being used in other malicious ways as wellâ€"a recent study found that one in six Congresswomen have been targeted by AI-generated explicit deepfakes. YouTube already has sophisticated technology that fingerprints copyrighted content and flags anything that has been uploaded without the copyright holder's permission. Called Content ID, it was a significantly important technology for YouTube to placate the entertainment industry. When a user is found to have uploaded copyrighted content without permission, like a music video, the copyright holder is notified and can choose to either have the video taken down or place advertisements against it, therefore earning money from the upload. CAA is an ideal partner for the rollout of this new likeness management technology, as the talent agency already scans and stores clients' digital likenesses, including their faces, bodies, and voices. Back in the summer, SAG-AFTRA, the largest actors union in Hollywood reached a deal that will allow actors to sell the rights to replicate their voices to advertisers. There are, of course, a lot of mixed feelings about actors and other celebrities selling the rights to replicate them digitally. Perhaps in the future, it will be similar to the way in which musicians have in recent years sold their entire music catalogs for sometimes hundreds of millions of dollars. If a famous actor like Tom Cruise could get an enormous amount of cash to license his likeness for future Top Gun movies once he's past his working age, maybe that wouldn't be a bad deal. If they are willing to give up the control and some of their soul. YouTube says it will roll out its likeness management technology to more creators on the platform over time.

YouTube says that soon, its tech will be able to find AI copies of celebs and creators

YouTube is partnering with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to help creators identify content using their AI-generated likenesses on the platform and submit removal requests. The company will test the controls with celebrities and athletes early next year before rolling it out to "top YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other leading partners representing talent." In September, YouTube announced plans for tools that would help manage AI-generated depictions of creators and their voices. Now, the company says it can give celebrities (and soon, creators) the ability to manage AI copies of their likeness, such as their face, "at scale." Last year, CAA introduced the CAAVault, which scans and stores the digital likenesses of its clients, including their faces, bodies, and voices. YouTube is also working on "synthetic-singing identification technology" that will detect AI content that attempts to replicate creators' singing voices. YouTube has already started letting music labels request the removal of AI content that simulates an artist's voice, and also began requiring creators to label videos containing AI-generated content earlier this year.

YouTube to test a way for creators and celebrities to find AI-generated content using their likeness | TechCrunch

YouTube is partnering with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to help celebrities, athletes, and creators identify content that uses their AI-generated likeness on the platform. The tool, which YouTube will begin testing early next year, will let these professionals submit requests for the removal of their AI-generated likeness. YouTube will first make the tool available for "leading celebrity talent, including award-winning actors and top athletes from the NBA and NFL." It will then make it available for "top YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other leading partners representing talent." The announcement comes the same week that YouTube started letting creators and rights holders flag if they're permitting specific third-party AI companies to train models on their content. The Google-owned company's recent moves indicate it's working to be a trusted ally to creative professionals amid the rise of generative AI.

YouTube to Let Actors, Athletes Hunt for Deepfakes of Themselves on the Platform

Earlier this year, YouTube announced new tools to help identify and remove AI deepfake videos from its platform, and the first people to get a crack at it will be actors, athletes, and other talent from the Creative Artists Agency. "At YouTube, we believe that a responsible approach to AI starts with strong partnerships," says YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. "We're excited to collaborate with CAA, an organization that shares our commitment to empowering artists and creators." According to the agreement, the CAA will ask its clients to try YouTube tools intended to help them find, report, and remove deepfakes of themselves from YouTube. In return, YouTube will get feedback to refine the tools before they are released to a wider audience. YouTube is developing two tools. The first identifies singing voices, while the second focuses on visual representations. Both tools are part of YouTube's likeness management platform. YouTube and the CAA didn't say who would be testing the platform, except to say that actors and athletes from the NBA and NFL will be involved. Per Variety, YouTube's goal is likely to show Hollywood it's serious about keeping AI deepfakes of famous people off its platform. "The emergence of AI has sparked important conversations about the need for artists and creators to have more control over how their likeness is represented," YouTube says. "We believe meaningful progress is only possible through collaboration." YouTube's partnership with the CAA is part of a long-term plan to get more people involved with finding and removing deepfakes. The CAA will get access in early 2025, but YouTube says it intends to add YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other "leading partners representing talent" in the coming months. Those not in the beta test for YouTube's new tools can file a complaint with YouTube if they spot AI-generated videos of themselves.

YouTube partners with CAA to help celebrities manage digital likeness in AI content

LOS ANGELES - YouTube on Tuesday announced a partnership with Century City-based talent representation firm Creative Artists Agency that will help actors and athletes better manage their digital likenesses in AI generated content. Next year, actors and athletes from the NBA and NFL will have access to technology that will identify AI-generated content on YouTube that features their digital likeness, including their faces, and give them the option of requesting it is removed through a privacy complaint process, YouTube said. The popular video platform, which is owned by search giant Google, said this is part of a larger testing effort for its likeness management technology. "By collaborating with CAA, we'll gain insight from some of the world's most influential figures-some of whom have been significantly impacted by the latest waves of AI innovation-to refine our product before releasing it to a wider group of creators and artists," YouTube said in a blog post. YouTube said in the next few months it will announce other testing cohorts, including top YouTube creators and creative professionals. "In the days ahead, we'll work with CAA to ensure artists and creators experience the incredible potential of AI while also maintaining creative control over their likeness," YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said in a statement. "This partnership marks a significant step toward building that future." Many people in Hollywood have expressed concerns regarding the growth of AI, AI's impact on jobs and how artists will get compensated for AI's usage of their likeness. There have also been worries expressed about the proliferation of deepfakes, including fake videos depicting celebrities endorsing or doing activities that they did not actually do. A ChatGPT voice, Sky, used by OpenAI stirred controversy earlier this year. CAA client and "Black Widow" actor Scarlett Johansson raised concerns that the San Francisco-based AI firm used her voice in a demo without her permission. OpenAI said it used another actor's voice but took it down. CAA has made efforts to protect the rights of its clients, including launching theCAAvault last year for its clients, which scans clients' bodies and records their movements and voices to create a digital version of them. Those who wish to participate will be able to create and own their own digital likenesses, which the agency believes will help protect those clients against copyright infringement and allow talent to make more money. The agency said at this time it is not disclosing the names or number of client participants that will access the technology as part of the YouTube partnership. CAA's clients include George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Nicole Kidman. "At CAA, our AI conversations are centered around ethics and talent rights, and we applaud YouTube's leadership for creating this talent-friendly solution, which fundamentally aligns with our goals," said CAA Chief Executive Bryan Lourd in a statement. "We are proud to partner with YouTube as it takes this significant step in empowering talent with greater control over their digital likeness and how and where it is used."

YouTube is helping high-profile actors and athletes monetize their AI likenesses

It's teaming with the powerhouse talent agency CAA to test 'likeness management technology.' YouTube is teaming up with one of the world's largest talent agencies, CAA, to help its high-profile actors and athletes monitor their AI likenesses. "Through this collaboration, several of the world's most influential figures will have access to early-stage technology designed to identify and manage AI-generated content that features their likeness, including their face, on YouTube at scale," YouTube wrote on its official blog. The video platform plans to begin testing its "likeness management technology" with unnamed award-winning actors and top NBA and NFL athletes, all clients of CAA (Creative Artists Agency). The system will surface AI-generated content that depicts their likeness and provide easy access to submit requests for removal through its privacy-complaint process. Through CAA and its influential client list, YouTube says it will gain insight before releasing it more widely to other creators and artists. Down the road, it will announce further testing for top YouTube creators, creative professionals and other talent agencies. CAA is an ideal first partner to test its likeness management tech, YouTube wrote. The agency has been on the forefront of AI and digital rights, via its CAAvault talent-focused serivce that scans, captures and securely stores clients' digital likeness including face, body and voice. Technology platforms like YouTube have been at odds with creators over the use of AI, particularly when it comes to training large language models (LLMs) on copyrighted text, artworks and the likenesses of famous people. The issue is particularly contentious in Hollywood; some stars have agreed to let AI replicate their voices under license, but many have railed against its use. Last week in a podcast interview with Armchair Expert, Friends actor Lisa Kudrow called the use of digital versions of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright in the film Here an "endorsement" of AI. "What will there be left for, forget actors, but what about up-and-coming actors? They'll just be licensing and recycling. What work will there be for human beings?"

YouTube Partners With CAA to Protect Celebrities from Deepfakes

Celebrities will also be able to request removal of deepfake videos YouTube announced its partnership with the entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) on Tuesday to protect public figures from deepfakes. With this partnership, the Google-owned video-streaming giant will offer early access to its AI-generated deepfake detection technology, while the celebrities will provide feedback to help YouTube improve its tool. The company also announced that its under-development likeness management technology will enter the testing phase starting early next year. Notably, this tool can detect when a video imitates the face and voice of a real person. In September, the video-streaming company revealed that it is developing a new technology that will help the platform's creators maintain control over their likenesses, including their faces and voices. The likeness management tool can detect synthetic videos that imitate another creator and block them. Three months after the announcement, YouTube has now announced its partnership with CAA to test the technology and receive feedback from users. The company will give early access to its technology to "several of the world's most influential figures" to help them identify and manage AI-generated deepfakes. While the company did not mention any names, it highlighted that the pool of celebrities will include "award-winning actors" and athletes from the NBA and NFL. With this tool, these celebrities will also be able to easily submit requests for content removal via YouTube's privacy complaint process. The company likely formed this collaboration with CAA as public figures struggle the most with deepfakes, and this will allow the video streaming platform to test the capability of the technology on a large pool of potential AI-generated videos. "CAA's clients' direct experience with digital replicas in the evolving landscape of AI will be critical in shaping a tool that responsibly empowers and protects creators and the broader YouTube community," the company said. YouTube also highlighted that this collaboration is the first step of product refinement. Later next year, the company also plans to test the technology with cohorts of top YouTube creators, creative professionals, as well as its partners. Notably, CAA has several high-profile clients including Ariana Grande, Peter Dinklage, Tom Hanks, Reese Witherspoon, Zendaya, Matthew Stafford, Raphael Varane, Son Heung-Min, Cole Palmer, Carlo Ancelotti, and others.

YouTube partners with talent agency to detect celebrity deepfakes

YouTube has announced a partnership with Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a major talent agency in the United States, to automatically detect and manage deepfakes featuring CAA clients. The partnership was announced on December 17, will begin early next year, and will provide major American celebrities managed by the CAA access to "early-stage technology" designed to identify AI-generated content that features their likeness. The tool will not only detect deepfakes but also allow the subjects to easily submit removal requests through YouTube's privacy complaints mechanism. YouTube indicated that this partnership would act as a test for their technology, helping them incorporate feedback from the artists, before they released it to a wider group of creators and artists. The platform plans on including more YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other talent managers. The rise of easily accessible AI tools has brought with it a number of celebrity deepfakes. In January this year, sexually explicit deepfake images of popular singer Taylor Swift began circulating on the internet, especially on X, where "Taylor Swift AI" was a trending topic for two days. The incident even prompted the White House to call for legislation protecting people from inappropriate deepfakes featuring their likeness. A similar incident occurred in India with actress Rashmika Mandanna, following which the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) instructed social media platforms to take down deepfake content within 24 hours. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar also drew attention to the phenomenon on X, when he found out deepfake versions of himself promoting an online betting game. Platforms like YouTube seem to have taken cognizance of the problem. The video hosting site announced in November last year that it would allow users to report deepfakes and request removal. It also stated that if the person making the request was a well-known individual, there would be a "higher-bar" for removal and that it would take into consideration if the content was satire or not. It also began requiring creators to reveal if their videos contained synthetic or AI generated content. YouTube also updated its harassment and cyberbullying policy in January to state that it would remove videos that realistically simulated minors or victims of major crimes recounting their experiences. This policy change came after a rise in true crime content on YouTube and TikTok featuring AI-generated victims describing their ordeal.

YouTube will allow celebrities to discover their AI-made clones - Softonic

The democratization of generative artificial intelligence has created new issues that still lack a definitive solution. One of the most common is identity theft through deepfakes, which are videos or images generated by artificial intelligence that mimic a real person. YouTube has joined the fight against this type of fraudulent content and, to this end, has decided to collaborate with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). YouTube already announced last September that it would launch tools to detect any type of AI-generated content that simulated the appearance and voice of any creators. Now, the platform has taken another step forward with the announcement of its partnership with CAA. In the note published on the official YouTube blog, they explain that celebrities will be the first to access an "initial phase" of this technology, "designed to identify and manage AI-generated content on YouTube at scale." It will be at the beginning of 2025 when these tools will start to be tested, initially available for elite actors and athletes. According to YouTube, this will serve to "perfect our product before making it available to a wider group of creators and artists." YouTube claims that this is just the "first step" of a much broader testing period. Over the coming months, the platform will announce new batteries of tests aimed at the most important YouTube creators and other prominent figures. For now, YouTube already allows music labels to request the removal of songs that mimic an artist's voice, in addition to requiring creators to label videos that contain AI-generated content. Whether these measures will be effective in preventing identity impersonations is something only time will tell.

In Major AI Deal, YouTube Teams With CAA to Give Celebrities Control Over Likenesses

'Bluey' Hitting The Big Screen: Feature Film in the Works From Disney, BBC Studios In a major deal that could have implications for the broader use of generative artificial intelligence in Hollywood, YouTube and CAA are teaming up on tools that will let celebrities manage their likenesses on the platform, including on videos that may use generative AI to recreate a star's appearance. The Google-owned video platform and talent agency announced the deal Tuesday morning, framing it as a way to responsibly use AI tech while protecting artists and creators. YouTube says that over the next few months, it will also begin testing the tools with "top YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other leading partners representing talent." "Neal and I started speaking earlier this year about the importance of creating a responsible AI ecosystem that protects artists, while unlocking new possibilities for creative expression," CAA CEO and co-chairman Bryan Lourd says. "At CAA, our AI conversations are centered around ethics and talent rights, and we applaud YouTube's leadership for creating this talent-friendly solution, which fundamentally aligns with our goals. We are proud to partner with YouTube as it takes this significant step in empowering talent with greater control over their digital likeness and how and where it is used." "At YouTube, we believe that a responsible approach to AI starts with strong partnerships," YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says. "We're excited to collaborate with CAA, an organization that shares our commitment to empowering artists and creators. In the days ahead, we'll work with CAA to ensure artists and creators experience the incredible potential of AI while also maintaining creative control over their likeness. This partnership marks a significant step toward building that future." The specifics on the new tools are a little vague for now, with the platform saying that it is "early-stage technology designed to identify and manage AI-generated content that features their likeness, including their face, on YouTube at scale." In addition to surfacing content that features their likeness, celebrities will also be able to submit requests for removal via YouTube's privacy complaint process. CAA has had a complex relationship with generative AI tech. The agency has been aggressive in defending its clients, as when Scarlett Johansson criticized OpenAI for releasing an AI-generated voice that sounded suspiciously like her own. "[OpenAI CEO Sam Altman] lives in a different world and has a different understanding of what artists do and what they own, literally and ethically and morally," Lourd said at a Financial Times conference in June. "To OpenAI's credit, they took [the voice] down when I asked them to take it down. I don't think they did that out of the goodness of their heart. I think they took it down because they realized how complicated a situation they'd created and stepped into." He also said at the conference that there was "nothing but opportunities around AI," given the ability for stars to monetize their likenesses in ways that require far less actual labor, and the ability to make far more content at a lower cost. CAA has its own business, the CAA Vault, which houses digital likenesses and voices for stars that can be licensed for film, TV and commercial projects, with their approval and with compensation, of course. CAA and New Enterprise Associates' Connect Ventures also led a $20 million investment round into Deep Voodoo, a deepfake company founded by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. YouTube, meanwhile, has been aggressively adding AI tools to its platform to help creators develop and publish content. At the same time, it has promised to add guardrails specifically cracking down on deepfakes and sound-alikes. The company said it was developing likeness-detecting tech earlier this year, with the CAA partnership the first step to launching it at scale.

YouTube Takes a Big Step to Curb Deepfakes | AI News

The video-streaming giant has partnered with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to control AI-generated content. YouTube, the video streaming platform owned by Alphabet, has announced a partnership with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to provide some of the world's leading artists with access to the technology to 'identify and manage' AI-generated content. Notably, CAA represents some of the world's most famous artists, such as Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Beyonce, Sabrina Carpenter, and Miley Cyrus. It also represents athletes from various sports, including basketball, hockey, and soccer. Other key figures include Devin Booker, Carlo Ancelotti, Kyle Walker, and Mathew Barzal. YouTube plans to begin testing its 'likeness management technology' next year in collaboration with leading celebrity talent. The tool will make it easy to submit requests for content removal. The partnership will help YouTube gain insights and feedback regarding the effectiveness of these tools. "Over the next few months, we'll announce new testing cohorts of top YouTube creators, creative professionals, and other leading partners representing talent," said YouTube. In September, YouTube announced tools to curb malicious AI content. One such tool is a 'synthetic-singing identification technology' that allows artists to detect AI-generated content that simulates their voices. In the earlier announcement, YouTube said, "We're actively developing new technology that will enable people from a variety of industries -- from creators and actors to musicians and athletes -- to detect and manage AI-generated content showing their faces on YouTube." The advent of deepfake content online has left several celebrities perturbed. Earlier this year, a deepfake advertisement resembling Taylor Swift was in circulation and in another scenario, a woman from Arizona, USA, fell prey to a deepfake scam that simulated Oprah Winfrey. There have been multiple initiatives to crack down on deepfake content from the internet. Earlier this year, OpenAI announced a 'deepfake detector' to a small group of researchers who work on preventing misinformation. In September, IBM revealed that it is working with Reality Defender, a company that has the technology to detect manipulated voice, video and images. Srinivas Tummalapenta, CTO of IBM Security Services, said, "Bad actors have a low barrier to entry". "While technologies and integrators are available, many corporations haven't allocated funds to address this problem," he added.