The new feature - which is turned off as its default setting - will let creators who would like their content to be scraped for artificial intelligence training to do exactly that.

A YouTube staff member called Rob wrote in a support post: "We see this as an important first step in supporting creators and helping them realize new value for their YouTube content in the AI era.

"As we gather feedback, we'll continue to explore features that facilitate new forms of collaboration between creators and third-party companies, including options for authorized methods to access content."

A video "must be allowed by the creator as well as the applicable rights holders" to be eligible for AI training, which includes owners of content which have been "detected by Content ID".

The YouTube staffer added: "This update does not change our Terms of Service. Accessing creator content in unauthorized ways, such as unauthorized scraping, remains prohibited. "

According to a support page, creators can pick and choose which third party companies can train using their videos.

According to TechCrunch, the list includes AI21 Labs, Adobe, Amazon, Anthropic, Apple, ByteDance, Cohere, IBM, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Perplexity, Pika Labs, Runway, Stability AI, and xAI.

A YouTube spokesperson added to The Verge: "These companies were chosen because they’re building generative AI models and are likely sensible choices for a potential partnership with creators."