AI B-roll on YouTube: when real places and events need the label

If AI B-roll shows a real event or place in a way that did not happen, or shows a realistic scene that never occurred, answer Yes to YouTube's altered-or-synthetic question. Those are two of the four triggers on YouTube's help page. B-roll that is clearly fantastical or animated is the exempt side.

The four triggers, applied to B-roll

Where Sume fits

A clip from the video catalog is a generated shot, so the question is only whether it looks real and whether it depicts a real place or event. The catalog's supported_aspect_ratios and supported_durations (for example, seedance-2.5 accepts 4 to 30 seconds and gemini-omni-flash-1.1 accepts 3 to 10) shape the clip, not the policy answer.

To review before publishing, video frames extracts 1 to 24 stills at times you name from one clip of up to 300 seconds. Use them to ask: does any still show a recognizable real location, a real person or a plausible news-like scene?

A review habit

• Name the place or event the shot implies. If it is a real one, disclose.
• Compare stills with real footage of that place. If a viewer could take the generated shot for it, disclose.
• If the B-roll is clearly fantastical or animated, it falls under the non-realistic exemption.
• Keep the decision in your edit notes next to the clip name.

Mixed edits

Many videos mix real footage and generated shots. One generated shot that meets a trigger is reason enough to answer Yes for the video. Note the timestamps of generated shots in your edit notes, so the answer is easy to defend later.

A generated insert that stays clearly stylized, such as an animated infographic, does not meet the triggers on its own.

What the page does not say

It gives no pixel or length thresholds for realism. The judgment is yours, which is why a short written decision per shot is cheap insurance. The page says disclosing does not limit audience or monetization eligibility.