There is a bug in Youtube’s AI filter that is causing some videos to flicker. The content creator have no idea that is happening and no way to opt out. If you have Epilepsy it is recommended that you watch out for these situations
Also as content creators dont know this may be happening, if you find these issues you should try to contact the respective content creator and let them know this is happening on your specific device. Again, its so random it may only happen on some devices
If you have epilepsy, watch out so you don’t randomly see something that could potentially kill you.
Great job google.
FWIW, photosensitive epilepsy is typically only triggered at flash rates between 3-30 hertz. The rate of flashing shown is extremely unlikely to cause seizures even in generally susceptible individuals.
I don’t know the type of flashes causes by this glitch but the post specifically warns for epilepsy.
That part of the post might be wrong, that’s completely fair and i trust you have less to gain from lying versus a post craving clicks.
Though my point is, if it is dangerous. What are they supposed to look out for? The “recommendation” should be google stop doing this shit that puts people at random risk.
If it’s just annoying, then its just a glitch, the same for other photosensitive but not suffering epilepsy people.
The danger is honestly pretty minimal for people who are aware they have photosensitive epilepsy; those who are prone to it but unaware of it are not likely to heed warnings even where they exist since they won’t typically perceive the risk until after experiencing it.
It takes several minutes from triggering exposure to actual seizure onset, so those who know of their susceptibility have time to stop exposure and make sure they’re in a safe position if a seizure does come. There are many ways of mitigating the seizure risk by stopping exposure, closing one eye and facing away from the light source, keeping screen brightness at the lowest level you can still easily read, etc.
That’s not to say I think warnings aren’t useful, but the intensity of many of the warnings people use is disproportionate to the actual risk and can cause people to be much more worried than necessary IMO. Google et al really need to stop messing with videos and such via AI without any sort of notice or warning for a whole host of reasons, including broader non-epileptic photosensitive since becoming intensely nauseous or getting a migraine over it is still pretty annoying.
tl;dr I think the warnings are a good idea, but maybe a little broader and less “OMG the epileptics are gonna all die”. And fuck companies silently manipulating content they didn’t even produce with AI in general.
Well said.
Did they ever give any reason why they even consider it an acceptable thing to do?
Imagine making an art piece to be displayed in a museum only to find they allowed an interim with next to zero experience to paint over it.
Not that I’m aware of, unfortunately. They seem to be trying to pretend they aren’t even doing it, so telling us why they obviously are modifying content doesn’t seem likely until they’re backed in to a corner by popular outrage.
The danger is honestly pretty minimal for people who are aware they have photosensitive epilepsy; those who are prone to it but unaware of it are not likely to heed warnings even where they exist since they won’t typically perceive the risk until after experiencing it.
It takes several minutes from triggering exposure to actual seizure onset, so those who know of their susceptibility have time to stop exposure and make sure they’re in a safe position if a seizure does come. There are many ways of mitigating the seizure risk by stopping exposure, closing one eye and facing away from the light source, keeping screen brightness at the lowest level you can still easily read, etc.
That’s not to say I think warnings aren’t useful, but the intensity of many of the warnings people use is disproportionate to the actual risk and can cause people to be much more worried than necessary IMO. Google et al really need to stop messing with videos and such via AI without any sort of notice or warning for a whole host of reasons, including broader non-epileptic photosensitive since becoming intensely nauseous or getting a migraine over it is still pretty annoying.
tl;dr I think the warnings are a good idea, but maybe a little broader and less “OMG the epileptics are gonna all die”. And fuck companies silently manipulating content they didn’t even produce with AI in general.
I’m not saying this isn’t true (nor am I saying I do think it’s true), but this entire post gives off the vibes of Halloween candy scares.
FWIW, photosensitive epilepsy is typically only triggered at flash rates between 3-30 hertz. The rate of flashing shown is extremely unlikely to cause seizures even in generally susceptible individuals.
I’m the author of my video content, not YouTube.
I carefully produce and render it, carefully ensuring it meets the quality level I require, and then I upload it.
I assume YouTube will transcode it, sure, but I assume they have expert engineers who have tailored the transcoding system to maintain the highest possible video quality whilst hitting whatever their filesize goals are.
At no point should AI be applied to alter the content of my video in any way, especially without my consent. That’s ridiculous.
Sadly YouTube owns your content, not you.
Unless you grant copyright to YouTube when you upload a video, which seems very unlikely given the corporate interests involved, this is misinformation.
Ahahaha. A title cautioning not to watch YouTube with the description of the situation being… a YouTube video.
I’m avoiding YouTube so for others like me that want more info here’s a BBC article on the filter itself (not the failure mode):
https://www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20250822-youtube-is-using-ai-to-edit-videos-without-permission
YouTube has secretly used artificial intelligence (AI) to tweak people’s videos without letting them know or asking permission. Wrinkles in shirts seem more defined. Skin is sharper in some places and smoother in others. Pay close attention to ears, and you may notice them warp
And an Invidious link that lets you view the video:
What difference would invidious make if the video was modified on Source?
Oh, I don’t have epilepsy so I’m not avoiding YouTube because of this filter, I’m avoiding YouTube because of the money Google keeps giving to Trump and because I noticed that my tech usage isn’t very diversified and it was pretty pretty dominated by US companies (so if you imagine trade war negotiating leverage, I was giving the Trump administration more leverage). From that perspective, it removes ad revenue which is about all you can do with YouTube besides trying to convince creators to put their videos on multiple platforms (and it’s questionable there is a good alternative platform)
