Google is under attack as it allegedly uses over 20 billion YouTube videos without being created directly to train the new VEO 3 AI model. While Google cites existing terms and contracts as justifications, its creators demand clearer transparency and control in the AI era.
Google is once again in controversy. This time, it's over allegations that they used YouTube Creators videos without explicit permission to train a VEO 3 video-generated AI model. The development is one of the world's largest video platforms, raising serious questions about data use transparency, AI ethics and content ownership.
What is the controversy?
According to a recent report, Google is using over 2 billion YouTube videos to train the newly announced VEO 3 AI model. It is designed to convert text prompts into surreal videos. VEO 3 was introduced at the Google I/O 2025 event and is claimed to be Google's most advanced video generation tool to date.
It started when several YouTube creators discovered that content was being used for AI training without direct notification or consent. Many called it another case that sparked fraudulent data harvesting, debate among creators and the technological community.
What is Google Veo 3?
VEO 3 is Google's latest AI-driven video generation model, allowing you to create high-resolution, realistic videos using simple text prompts. The applications range from film production and advertising to content creation and education. However, its powerful performance relies heavily on large training datasets. Most of them are said to have come from YouTube in this case.
What does Google say?
In response to the claim, Google has announced that it has signed content licensing agreements with selected media companies and creators. The Tech giant said, “Even in the AI era, improvements to our products are being made while respecting agreement. Creators can opt out of using content for training.”
Google added that YouTube's terms of service already states that content can be used globally to improve the user experience and develop new features. Blog posts starting in September 2024 reportedly notified the creators of these policies.
YouTube Terminology and Author Rights
YouTube's current terms and conditions provide Google with extensive licenses to enhance our products and services using content uploaded worldwide. However, creators still retain copyright to content and can restrict their use by allowing specific content protection settings, such as blocking third-party AI training from companies such as Amazon, Nvidia, and Apple.
