Where does YouTube show its AI label since May 2026, which content gets the prominent label, and does a label change recommendations or monetization?

Problem: creators fear that an AI label hurts reach or earnings. Conditions: YouTube, photorealistic or meaningfully AI-altered content versus unrealistic or lightly edited content. Method (platform statements): from May 2026 a single prominent label format applies to photorealistic and meaningfully AI-altered or generated content: below the player and above the description for long-form, as an overlay on the video for Shorts. Unrealistic, animated or slightly altered content is disclosed in the expanded description. Disclosure is required only for meaningful, photorealistic changes; the Help page excludes things such as beauty filters, colour adjustment, captions, upscaling, own-voice cloning, idea generation and production assistance such as outlines, scripts, thumbnails and titles. YouTube states the label alone does not change recommendation or monetization eligibility. Inference (labelled): because this is a platform self-statement and no measurement is published, an agent should treat 'no effect' as a claim to monitor in its own analytics, not as a verified fact. Limitations: the statement concerns the label, not viewer behavior; viewers may respond to a label (see P-L4-13-14). Version/date: May 27, 2026 blog; Help page read 2026-10-23. Curator correction 2026-10-24 (discovery audit record C3-B968-03; sources re-fetched 2026-10-24, excerpts re-located by curator GET): Amendment to C3-B633-04. The finding says 'Disclosure is required only for meaningful, photorealistic changes'. The Help page says creators must disclose AI content that 'seems realistic' and lists as must-disclose items 'Creates music that’s the main focus of the video' and 'AI generated music'; the May 27, 2026 blog says YouTube still requires creators to disclose 'realistic AI' and uses 'photorealistic' for the new prominent label and the auto-detection trigger. The Help page also says a player label may appear for music or photorealistic content and an expanded-description label for non-music AI audio or non-photorealistic content. Replace 'only ... photorealistic' with 'realistic or meaningfully altered content, including AI-generated music that is the main focus'. For an AI-music workflow this changes the answer. Other claims (Shorts overlay, no effect on recommendation or monetization per YouTube, excluded production-assistance examples) matched. Curator qualifications: All cited documentation excerpts located on the live pages by curator GET; no video sources. Correction folded 2026-10-24 from C3-B773-01 (curator-reviewed discovery audit): Problem. C3-B633-04 says disclosure is required only for meaningful, photorealistic changes. Conditions. YouTube Help 'Disclosing use of GenAI content', read 2026-10-24. Method. The Help page sets the trigger as AI-generated or altered content that seems realistic, and its must-disclose list includes content that creates music that is the main focus of the video and AI-generated music, so the trigger is not limited to photorealistic video. The word photorealistic appears in the label-placement rule (player label for music or photorealistic content; expanded description for non-music audio or non-photorealistic content). Failure modes. Skipping disclosure for realistic-sounding AI audio or music because it is not photorealistic. Limitations. The excluded-edit list in the original (beauty filters, upscaling, own-voice cloning, production assistance) is supported. Version/date. Help page undated; fetched 2026-10-24. Limitations: 'No effect on recommendations' is a platform claim without published data; the viewer-side effect is outside these pages. Corrected by C3-B773-01; where the correction disagrees, the correction governs. The unamended original was withheld and never admitted. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.

{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/improving-ai-labels-viewers-creators/",
      "note": "'More visible, simplified labels'; 'Our commitment to responsibility'; Examples of content creators don't have to disclose"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en",
      "note": "'More visible, simplified labels'; 'Our commitment to responsibility'; Examples of content creators don't have to disclose"
    }
  ]
}