Tech Desk 
Jun 23, 2024
TikTok unintentionally posted a link to an internal version of its new AI tool, Digital Avatars, without proper safeguards. This error allowed users to create videos with restricted content.
CNN first noticed the issue when a paid actor used the tool to narrate offensive messages, including a Hitler speech and instructions to drink bleach. TikTok has since removed this problematic version, while the original, intended release remains available.
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The Digital Avatars tool, recently launched by TikTok, helps businesses create ads using paid actors and AI-powered dubbing. Access to this tool is limited to users with a TikTok Ads Manager account. However, the unguarded version observed by CNN was accessible to all users.
Laura Perez, a CNN spokesperson, confirmed to The Verge that the "technical error" allowing a small number of users to access the internal testing version of the tool for a few days has been fixed.
CNN also highlighted a notable feature of Digital Avatars: videos created with AI do not have a watermark indicating they are AI-generated. Although CNN did not share the video it created to test the feature, Perez noted that if CNN had posted the video, it "would have been rejected for violating our policies."
