TikTok has quietly switched on a test of an AI-powered meme tool that can turn a user’s video into fresh, AI-generated images, raising fresh questions about consent and control over uploaded content. According to CNET, the feature is still experimental, but it has already introduced a new permission setting that allows other people to remix videos with AI unless creators actively turn it off.

The tool, described by TikTok as a meme remixer, would let viewers take a clip and generate altered images based on it, including changes to a person’s face, voice or background. In practice, that could mean a video filmed in a café being repurposed into a fake scene on a beach or some other setting, with the resulting image appearing in the original video’s comments. Creators who have noticed the setting say the default opt-in is exactly what worries them most.

TikTok says the feature is still being tested and could change before any wider release. But the current design has already drawn criticism because the opt-out is buried in the privacy settings for each individual video rather than available as an account-wide control. That means creators who post frequently would need to repeat the process clip by clip, including for older uploads, according to reports from Indy100, Pedestrian and other outlets.

The company says videos allowed into the tool will not be used to train its AI models, although creators have no practical way to verify that claim. TikTok also says AI-edited material must comply with its community rules, which ban misleading synthetic content, fake authoritative scenes and child sexual abuse material. The platform says AI-altered posts carry an invisible watermark under the C2PA standard, but critics argue that enforcement will matter more than policy language in a system where deepfakes and manipulated media are becoming easier to produce.

Privacy fears around the new setting sit alongside broader unease about TikTok’s growing use of AI. The app already uses AI features such as its assistant Tako, and, like Meta and Snapchat, has been pushing further into generative tools even as users complain about originality, trust and the risk of synthetic spam overtaking real creator content. Some creators say the new remix option feels like another example of platforms expanding the use of user data faster than people can understand or restrict it.

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Source: Noah Wire Services