Where YouTube puts the AI label: player or description

When a creator answers Yes to YouTube's altered-or-synthetic content question, a photorealistic video gets a label in the video player, and a non-photorealistic or animated one gets the label in the expanded description. Whether a clip counts as photorealistic is something you decide per clip.

Placement by clip type

What triggers the question

The page asks creators to disclose realistic content that does one of these:

• makes a real person appear to say or do something they did not;
• alters footage of a real event or place;
• generates a realistic scene that did not occur;
• creates music that is the main focus of the video.

Where a Sume clip falls

A clip from the video catalog that shows a realistic scene which never happened is in the third bucket, and is photorealistic if it looks like camera footage. That puts the label in the player. A stylized animation falls in the other direction.

A talking presenter from avatar video is a judgment call. The YouTube page does not name avatars. If the presenter looks like a real person speaking, treat it as realistic and choose Yes; the label then sits in the player. If it is an obvious cartoon character, the exemption for non-realistic content may apply, and the label would go in the description if you do choose Yes.

Why placement matters

A label in the player is seen at the moment of viewing, while a label in the expanded description is seen only by viewers who open it. So the realism call affects who sees the label, not only whether one exists.

That is a reason to be honest about realism instead of calling a lifelike clip animated to move the label out of the player. The page ties placement to the content type, and it states that disclosing does not limit audience or eligibility to earn money.

Record the decision

Keep one line per upload: clip type, realistic or not, answer chosen. The page says YouTube may also apply labels itself, so a missing answer from you does not guarantee a missing label. Nothing on the page says disclosure limits a video's audience or eligibility to earn money.