When you post something on the Internet, you hand over a certain amount of control over it to anyone. Photos, videos, text, audio recordings: all this content can be downloaded or screenshotted, and reused as another user wishes. This is the risk of posting online.
The thing is, you can’t assume that the platform you’re posting on will go out of its way to help other users repurpose your content — but that’s what TikTok is currently doing with its new AI “Remix” feature.
What are TikTok’s AI “remixes”?
AI Remix is ​​considered a type of meme-making tool. According to CNETRemix allows TikTok users to create a custom image generated from your content, of course with the help of AI. For example, if you post a video of your morning coffee routine, a viewer can use Remix to create an image of you holding your coffee, with the text “How would that be that first sip of the morning,” or anything else they want to create. The idea is apparently to share this new AI image in the comments of your videos, which is another means of increasing engagement on the platform.
TikTok Remixes are only in testing right now
It’s important to note that Remix is ​​not an official TikTok feature at this time — TikTok confirmed to CNET that AI Remix is ​​currently an experimental feature, and the company is testing it on a limited basis. There are no definite plans to expand on this further, and TikTok says the way Remix works may change until its full launch – if that happens at all.
I’m sure some users will be creative enough to make some funny AI memes using Remix, but I have some big privacy concerns. Creators probably won’t want to subject their likeness to TikTok’s AI factory, because allowing your content to be used in remixes essentially means giving permission for your face and video to be used to train the company’s AI models. The good news is that TikTok allows you to opt out of a remix; The bad news is that you can’t opt ​​out en masse. Instead, the app forces you to disable Remix for every video you post. It seems the company thinks you’ll want to allow remixes for some videos and not others, when in reality, many creators would probably prefer to block them altogether.
What do you think so far?
How to opt out of TikTok’s AI Remix
Not everyone needs to worry about this right now, as TikTok is only testing AI Remix with select users. Still, if you post videos on TikTok, it’s worth checking your settings to make sure the feature isn’t enabled – assuming you want to opt out of it, of course.
To do this, tap on one of your TikTok videos, then tap the three dots in the bottom right corner. Scroll down, and select “Privacy Settings.” If you’re part of the test, you’ll see “Allow AI to remix content” enabled. Tap to turn off the option.
