YouTube on Tuesday announced its partnership with entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) to protect public figures from deepfakes. With this partnership, the Google-owned video-streaming giant will provide early access to its AI-generated deepfake detection technology, while celebrities will provide feedback to help YouTube improve its tools. The company also announced that its under-development similarity management technology will enter the testing phase early next year. Specifically, this tool can detect whether a video mimics the face and voice of a real person.
YouTube has collaborated with CAA to fight deepfakes
In September, the video-streaming company revealed it was developing a new technology that would help the platform’s creators maintain control over their likeness, including their faces and voices. The similarity management tool can detect and block synthetic videos that mimic another creator.
Three months after the announcement, YouTube has now announced its partnership with CAA to test the technology and get feedback from users. The company will give “many of the world’s most influential figures” early access to its technology to help identify and manage AI-generated deepfakes. Although the company did not mention any names, it did highlight that the pool of celebrities would include “award-winning actors” and athletes from the NBA and NFL.
With the help of this tool, these celebrities will be able to easily submit requests for content removal through YouTube’s privacy complaint process. The company likely formed this collaboration with CAA because public figures struggle the most with deepfakes, and it will allow the video streaming platform to test the technology’s potential on a larger pool of potentially AI-generated videos.
“CAA’s clients’ direct experience with digital replicas in the emerging 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 in product refinement. Later next year, the company also plans to test the technology with top YouTube creators, creative professionals, as well as its partners.
Notably, CAA has a number of 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.
