YouTube, the world’s largest video-sharing platform, is ready to help crack down on AI-generated deepfake videos by celebrities, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Google-owned website is sharing deepfake detection tools it has been fine-tuning over the past two years, giving access to celebrities who are at high risk of having their likeness copied in AI-generated media.
A Google representative did not respond to a request for comment.
Hollywood has waged war against the biggest video generators as AI tools make it increasingly easy to use famous portraits in user-generated videos. actor and major studio Allied against major criminals. Sora of OpenAI, who recently passed away. and ByteDance’s SeeDance 2.0 app. But despite growing pressure from the rich and famous, deepfakes are continue to proliferate Through AI video generation prompts.
(Disclosure: CNET’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in 2025, alleging that it infringed on Ziff Davis’ copyrights in training and operating AI systems.)
YouTube’s deepfake detection tools aim to curb this trend, at least on its own video platform. This tool works similarly to YouTube’s Content ID, automatically identifying and flagging copyrighted content uploaded to a website’s servers.
To opt in to the program, celebrities (or their agents) must upload their likenesses to deepfake detection tools. Deepfake detection tools should scan a site’s content and flag potentially objectionable AI-generated material for review. Affected individuals do not need a YouTube account to take action if they discover unauthorized deepfake videos using their likeness.
The company may remove objectionable content from its website upon request, but there is no guarantee that all reported videos will be removed.
Mary Ellen Coe, YouTube’s chief business officer, told The Hollywood Reporter that “there are many cases where community guidelines allow parody and satire to exist on the platform.” “If someone is accurately replicating something that restricts the lives of celebrities, actors, and creators, it would be subject to removal because it is literal content replacement.”
Initially it was used by politicians, but now it can be used by celebrities as well.
This tool is not completely new. YouTube began its rollout last year, testing its implementation with some of the website’s biggest creators. A few months ago, this tool became available to politicians.
This is its widest rollout to date, as YouTube expands its user base to include actors, athletes, musicians, and other celebrities whose likenesses are used in AI-generated videos.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, YouTube executives said many creators removed a small portion of flagged content during the deepfake detection tool’s pilot program, primarily focusing on negative or derogatory media.
Ko hinted at a future where rights holders might choose to monetize AI-generated media rather than remove it, but said there are currently no plans to do so on the YouTube platform. The company’s current focus is on “a foundational layer of responsibility and protection” for celebrities and their likenesses.
