AI-generated content is increasingly appearing across social media feeds and music streams, and some platforms are now adding options aimed at reducing what users see or hear that is labeled or generated with artificial intelligence.
In a Jan. 29 “One Tech Tip” guide, the Associated Press focused on settings that users can use to dial down AI content on services including Pinterest and TikTok, along with a labeling approach on music platform Deezer. The guide also included a caution from Henry Ajder, who advises businesses and governments on AI and has been studying deepfakes since 2018.
Ajder warned it is “incredibly difficult” to entirely remove AI slop content from all feeds. He compared AI slop to smog generated from the industrial revolution, when there were no pollution controls in place, and said it would be “very, very hard for people to avoid inhaling” in that analogy.
Pinterest’s approach to the problem is a setting it rolled out that lets users adjust how much AI content they see. The guide said Pinterest introduced a “tuner” that can be used to “dial down the AI and add more of a human touch,” and that the feature initially covered categories it described as “highly prone to AI modification or generation” such as beauty, art, fashion and home decor. The tuner launched first on Android and desktop, before beginning a gradual rollout on iOS.
The guide said Pinterest later added more categories to the tuner, including architecture, art, beauty, entertainment, men’s, women’s and children’s fashion, health, home décor, and sport, food and drink. To use the tuner, the guide directed users to Settings, then “refine your recommendations,” then GenAI interests, where users can use toggles to indicate which categories they want to see less AI-generated content.
On TikTok, the guide described how AI-generated videos continue to proliferate on the short-video platform and said TikTok has labeled at least 1.3 billion video clips on its service as AI-generated. It also said TikTok told users in November it was testing an update that would give people more control over AI-generated content in their For You feeds, while noting it was not clear when the change would be widely available.
The guide said TikTok did not respond to requests for comment. It explained that users can check on the mobile app by going to Settings, then Content Preferences, then Manage Topics, where they will see sliders for different types of content such as dance, humor, lifestyle and nature. It also said users can access the controls from a For You feed by tapping the Share button on the side of a post, then tapping “Why this Video,” then “Adjust your For You,” and then Manage topics.
The guide said the controls include a new slider that allows users to dial down—or turn up—the amount of AI-generated content they receive, and that if the slider is not visible yet it may be because the update has not reached that device. It added that the controls are not available on TikTok’s desktop browser interface and that TikTok says the tools are meant to tailor content rather than remove or replace it entirely from feeds. The guide quoted TikTok as saying the controls would let people who want more AI-generated history content see more, while others could choose to dial things down.
For music listeners, the guide said Deezer offers a way to distinguish AI-generated songs by labeling tracks as AI. It also quoted Henry Ajder saying Deezer has been “really, really pushing the anti-AI generation music narrative.” Deezer told the guide that 60,000 fully AI-generated tracks, or more than 39% of the daily total, are uploaded to its platform every day, and that last year it detected and labeled more than 13.4 million AI tracks. The company said the people doing it are trying to make money through fraudulent streams.
The guide closed with options to “change your platform,” describing apps and services aimed at users who want to avoid AI-generated work. It said Cara is a portfolio-sharing platform for artists that bans AI-generated work, and that Pixelfed is an ad-free Instagram rival where users can join different servers, including one for art that does not allow AI-generated content. It also described Spread as a social media platform for people who want to “access human ideas” and “escape the flood of AI slop.”
Finally, the guide warned readers to watch for diVine, described as a reboot of Jack Dorsey’s defunct Vine short-form video app. It said the app has been available only as a limited prerelease for Apple iOS, promises “No AI Slop,” and uses multiple approaches to detect AI, with an Android beta expected soon. The guide said diVine plans to launch in app stores soon but needs more time to prepare for unexpectedly high demand.
This story is part of the AP’s “One Tech Tip” series, which invited readers to suggest future tech topics to explain.