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YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blockers globally

YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blockers globally

In a significant move to combat ad-blocker usage on its platform, YouTube has launched a global initiative aimed at curbing the practice that violates its Terms of Service.

YouTube is now cracking down on ad-blockers globally

Image Source: techspot.com

The video streaming giant began experimenting with this approach back in June, when it started displaying warning messages to users who employed ad-blockers while viewing content. These messages informed users that if they continued using ad-blockers, their access to the video player would be restricted after viewing just three videos. This initial experiment has now escalated into a full-scale campaign, as YouTube seeks to ensure that users either purchase a YouTube Premium subscription or allow ads to play during their viewing experience.

User Reactions and the Growing Irony of Ad Blockers on YouTube

The initiative has not gone unnoticed by the YouTube community, with numerous users taking to the r/YouTube subreddit to express their concerns and experiences. Many Redditors were quick to point out the irony of YouTube cracking down on ad-blockers while allowing advertisements related to ad-blockers on its service. This juxtaposition has sparked debates about the platform’s commitment to user experience and revenue generation. Users are left questioning the platform’s motives as it promotes anti-ad-blocker ads while penalizing those who employ ad-blockers.

YouTube, however, has not provided specific details regarding the extent of restrictions imposed on users employing ad-blockers in this experiment. In a statement, the company simply reiterated that the use of ad-blockers violates YouTube’s Terms of Service, leaving room for users to speculate about potential consequences.

YouTube’s pursuit of increased revenue and a broader user base is evident in its diverse strategies. The platform currently boasts 80 million paid users across its Music and Premium tiers. Nevertheless, YouTube’s parent company, Google, continues to experiment with alternative methods to bolster its user numbers. Some of these tests include prompting users to pay for access to videos in 4K resolution or subjecting them to multiple unskippable ads for an uninterrupted viewing experience. These endeavors indicate the company’s determination to strike a balance between user satisfaction and revenue generation.

As YouTube tightens its stance on ad-blocker usage, it remains to be seen how the community will react and whether these measures will succeed in pushing users toward YouTube Premium subscriptions or encourage them to tolerate advertisements during their video consumption. The evolving landscape of ad-blocker usage on YouTube underscores the ever-present tension between platform profitability and user preferences in the online video streaming industry.

YouTube Working on Tool That Lets Creators Sing Like Drake

YouTube Working on Tool That Lets Creators Sing Like Drake

In a bold move at the intersection of technology, artificial intelligence, and the music industry, YouTube is reportedly working on a revolutionary tool that would enable content creators to record audio using the voices of famous musicians. This groundbreaking initiative could transform the way users engage with content on the video-sharing platform.

YouTube Working on Tool That Lets Creators Sing Like Drake
Image Source: bloomberg.com

According to individuals familiar with the matter who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the discussions, YouTube has initiated talks with major music companies to obtain the necessary rights to train this AI-powered tool. While negotiations are ongoing, no formal agreements have been reached with record labels. These discussions are expected to shape the future of content creation on the platform.

YouTube recently unveiled a suite of AI-based tools, marking its continued commitment to harnessing artificial intelligence for content creation. These tools, introduced just last month, encompass features like background creation for videos and automatic dubbing into different languages. However, the much-anticipated music tool was not released as planned due to the rights-related complexities.

The legal landscape concerning the use of artificial intelligence in conjunction with the names, images, and likenesses of public figures, including musicians, is still evolving and has already sparked legal disputes. YouTube faces the challenge of navigating this intricate path to ensure the technology’s legal and ethical use. Although YouTube has had a tumultuous relationship with the music industry in the past, the company has made significant strides in recent years by increasing royalty payments to artists and labels.

When contacted for comment, a company spokesperson declined to provide any additional information, maintaining a shroud of secrecy around this ambitious project.

YouTube, owned by tech giant Alphabet Inc., is no stranger to the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning. Alphabet has been at the forefront of developing cutting-edge AI products for several years, and YouTube’s latest venture is part of the race among tech companies, including Microsoft, to lead the charge into what many consider the next frontier in technology.

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With Alphabet’s substantial investment in AI, YouTube has been pushed to explore innovative solutions and tools that could transform the way content is created and shared on its platform. This development aligns with Alphabet’s broader vision to harness AI’s potential and offers creators a chance to explore new horizons in content creation by singing like their favorite artists.

As discussions between YouTube and major music companies progress, the future of content creation on the platform remains a tantalizing prospect. This tool, if successfully developed and implemented, could usher in a new era of content creation, where creators can truly embrace the voices of their musical idols to captivate audiences in ways previously unimaginable.

YouTube’s three principles to embrace generative AI in music: All details

YouTube’s Three Principles to Embrace Generative AI in Music: All Details

YouTube’s three principles to embrace generative AI in music: All details
Image Source: campaignasia.com

The Google firm’s to work with generative AI in music will be informed by the recently launched YouTube Music AI Incubator, which is expected to bring together several of the current top creative artists, songwriters, and producers, based on a statement made by YouTube on 21 August 2023. Additionally, it announced a relationship with Universal Music and disclosed three important AI music concepts.

The Music AI Incubator aims to integrate Artificial Intelligence technology in music production responsibly. Max Richter, Anitta, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, the estate of American musical legend Frank Sinatra, as well as other professionals in the field, are among those the firm is collaborating with.

YouTube’s CEO Neal Mohan along with Universal Music chief executive officer Lucian Grainge have written blogs.

The latter wrote: “Our challenge and opportunity as an industry is to establish effective tools, incentives and rewards – as well as rules of the road – that enable us to limit AI’s potential downside while promoting its promising upside. If we strike the right balance, I believe AI will amplify human imagination and enrich musical creativity in extraordinary new ways”.

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Principle 1:

Artificial intelligence is here, and our team will properly use it alongside our collaborators in music. YouTube as well as our collaborators in the music business have decided to expand on our long history of collaboration and appropriately take on this quickly developing sector as generative AI enables enthusiastic new forms of innovation. Our objective is to collaborate with the music business in a way that advances our shared quest of ethical innovation.

Principle 2:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing in a new era of creative language, but it must provide proper safeguards and open doors for musical producers who choose to take part. We’re maintaining our solid track record of safeguarding artists’ creative output on YouTube.

Throughout several years, the company has made significant investments in the mechanisms that support striking a balance between the needs of those who own copyright and those who create on YouTube.

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Principle 3:

We’ve developed a reliable and secure organisation and set of content policies that lead the industry. To tackle the difficulties posed by artificial intelligence, we will scale them. We’ve invested a lot of time and money on the trust and safety teams, policies, and protections for the YouTube community, and we’re now extending these protections to AI-generated material as well.

Current issues including misuse of trademarks and copyrights, false information, spam, and others might be made worse by generative AI systems.

YouTube Working Towards Bringing Transparency to the News Section for its Indian Users

For the past two years, the internet has become more accessible for the Indians, due to high connectivity and low-cost plans. This has led to increased screen time for Indian smartphone users. According to a report from YouTube, the Indian users have become more active on this video streaming platform, tripling the number of users in the past two years, especially on the news channels.

youtube news
Image Source: business-standard.com

Keeping this in mind, YouTube is now focusing on the news section on the platform and is working towards promoting authoritative news and bringing transparency for the users on YouTube. The company is launching three new features in support for the sources that provide authoritative news and to provide transparency to its viewers, i.e. Top News, Breaking News, and Fact-Checker labels.

As the name suggests, Top News feature will display a shelf of news on the platform, where the latest and important news from the trustworthy news sources will flash frequently. The Breaking News again will show the breaking news from reliable sources, and the news will reflect directly on the homepage of YouTube. And, the Fact-Checker Labels, will help the users with the context and sources from where the news has been produced.

The company has also introduced the information panel for its users, such that the users can easily look for the context fo a specific content, event or even a publisher and make their own decision, i.e. to believe or not to believe on that very content.

The information panel, as well as the fact checker, will include the information both in Hindi and English languages, and along with India, those features have been launched in thirty other countries too. The fact-checker works on the open source Schema.org ClaimReview markup process.

The information panel will also label the government-funded news channels on the platform with “funded in whole or in part” as well as “public broadcast service”, such that the users will be able to judge the authenticity of the news sources. The information panel will also include a link to Wikipedia or other authorised informational sources of the news channel.

YouTube has mentioned making an investment worth $25 million for the news section on its platform and will work towards building a better online presence for the news channels.