This could be a significant update.
X is reportedly working on a new prompt in the post composer that would alert users before they re-share artificial intelligence generated content.
As reported by X Daily News, the option is currently in early experimentation, with code snippets spotted in the back-end operating system that point to an “AI content detected” alert, which would seemingly be shown to users before they hit send on a post or re-post in the app.
That could help to reduce the spread of AI-generated content, which X has already committed to addressing in the context of the Iran conflict. Wired recently reported that X has been “inundated” with AI fakes since the beginning of the U.S.-led incursion, and X’s head of product Nikita Bier has responded, noting that the platform its working to improve its detection and enforcement of such.
Pre-alerts about potential AI-generated material would be another step in this direction, and based on past, similar experiments, it could be a valuable initiative.
Back in 2020, Twitter added a new pop-up alert on articles that users attempted to retweet without actually opening the article link and reading the post.
That simple alert led to a significant reduction in the amplification of articles that people hadn’t read, with users opening articles 40% more often after seeing the prompt, and subsequently re-tweeting them significantly less.
AI alerts in-stream could have a similar impact, though the system would also be reliant on X being able to detect AI-generated material in posts, which is unlikely to be 100% accurate.
But even so, for the links and clips in which X can detect that AI was used, it could still be significant, and an important step to limit the amplification of fake reports in the app.
X hasn’t provided any info on the update as yet, but we’ll keep you updated on any progress.
