# YouTube AI Disclosure Checklist for Realistic Synthetic Video

> Use a practical pre-publication checklist to decide when realistic AI scenes, voices, people, places, or events need altered-content disclosure on YouTube.

Updated: 2026-07-11
Audience: YouTube creators publishing AI-assisted documentaries or realistic films
Canonical: https://onira.studio/guides/youtube-ai-disclosure-checklist

## Key takeaways

- Use YouTube's current official guidance, not a remembered summary.
- Assess realistic scenes and voices individually.
- Disclosure is part of transparency, not a substitute for factual or rights review.

## Ask whether the content appears realistic

Begin with how a reasonable viewer may interpret the finished scene, not with how the asset was generated. A photorealistic reconstruction of a real battle, a cloned voice of a public figure, or an altered view of a real place can carry a different risk from a clearly fantastical illustration.

Review the current YouTube help page because the platform supplies the controlling examples and exceptions. Preserve the URL and review date in the project's publication notes.

- Could the viewer mistake the scene for real footage?
- Does it depict a real person doing or saying something?
- Does it materially alter a real event or place?

## Review documentary reconstructions carefully

History and cultural-heritage films often reconstruct real settings and events. Even when the narration uses past tense and the creator intends illustration, cinematic realism may imply that a camera recorded the moment.

Use on-screen or descriptive context where it improves viewer understanding, and make the platform disclosure decision explicitly. Never add fake archive defects, logos, timestamps, or document treatments merely to make generated material appear authentic.

- Identify every realistic reconstruction in the timeline.
- Do not present generation as archival evidence.
- Keep an intervention and disclosure record.

## Check voice, likeness, and sensitive subjects

A realistic synthetic voice or likeness can create privacy, publicity, defamation, and platform risks beyond the disclosure control itself. Confirm consent or other lawful basis where required and avoid attributing words or actions that the evidence does not support.

Current events, elections, health, finance, conflict, crime, and living people deserve heightened editorial and legal care. For high-risk publication decisions, seek qualified advice rather than relying on a general guide.

- Consent and rights for recognizable people or voices.
- No fabricated quote or evidentiary implication.
- Escalation path for sensitive or high-impact topics.

## Record the final publication decision

Before upload, record whether disclosure is required, who reviewed the decision, which scenes, voices, or generated music triggered it, and what additional context appears in the video or description. Revisit the decision if picture or sound changes.

Then complete the separate checks for factual support, rights, metadata, and monetization policy. A disclosed video can still be misleading, infringing, repetitive, or otherwise ineligible.

- Reviewer and date.
- Affected scenes and rationale.
- Platform setting and viewer-facing context.

## Publication checklist

- The current YouTube disclosure guidance has been opened and reviewed.
- Every realistic generated or altered scene is identified.
- Synthetic music and material voice generation are included in the review.
- Real people, voices, places, and events receive heightened review.
- Reconstruction is not presented as archive footage or evidence.
- The disclosure decision, reviewer, and rationale are recorded.
- Factual, rights, and monetization checks are completed separately.

## Sources

- [YouTube altered or synthetic content disclosure](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/14328491?hl=en)
- [YouTube channel monetization policies](https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/1311392?hl=en)

## Questions

### Does every use of AI need disclosure on YouTube?

YouTube's guidance distinguishes realistic altered or synthetic content from minor assistance and clearly unrealistic material. Review the current official examples for the specific production.

### Do AI historical reconstructions need disclosure?

A realistic reconstruction of a real place or event can warrant disclosure when viewers could mistake it for authentic footage. Assess the finished scene under YouTube's current guidance.

### Does Onira set the YouTube disclosure flag?

No. Onira delivers an MP4 for review. The creator controls the upload, metadata, and disclosure decision in YouTube Studio.

## Product boundary

- Onira delivers a final MP4; it does not upload or schedule posts on YouTube or social platforms.
- Onira provides a reviewable production workflow; creators remain responsible for approving the story, facts, rights, disclosure, and final publication.
- Director chat is limited to regenerating one selected PREVIEW timeline video clip; other available Studio controls are separate direct actions.
- Creators must review facts, sources, rights, realistic-synthetic-media disclosure, and platform policy before publishing.
- Onira does not guarantee YouTube monetization, reach, factual accuracy, or legal clearance.