Quick Answer
Five steps, and the one most guides skip is the label. TikTok requires creators to label realistic AI content, including AI speech, and a label it applies itself cannot be removed. YouTube requires disclosure when AI meaningfully alters or generates photorealistic content, through the 'AI use' setting in YouTube Studio. Meta has required disclosure of photorealistic video or realistic sounding audio since February 2024 and shows it as "AI info". Lengths differ too: YouTube Shorts run up to 3 minutes, and Instagram does not recommend Reels over 3 minutes to new audiences.
Five steps for AI social video, with what TikTok, YouTube and Meta each require you to disclose, where you do it, and the lengths that travel. Checked 16 September 2026.
Related next steps
Making the video is the easy part now. The part that catches people is that every platform has its own rule about AI video and its own length that actually travels, and those rules are published.
Below, each rule is attributed to the platform that wrote it. YouTube's pages were read on 16 September 2026; TikTok's, Meta's and Instagram's on the dates given. Percify's numbers were read on 15 September 2026.
Step 1: pick the platform before the format
Length is not a style choice, it is a platform rule. YouTube's help pages say Shorts creation tools make videos "up to 3 minutes long" ↗. Instagram's help pages describe videos of up to 3 minutes, editing up to 20 minutes, and say Reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences. Decide where it goes, then cut to that length, rather than making one video and hoping it fits everywhere.
Step 2: make it once, in the cheapest form that works
If the face should be yours, Clone Yourself makes your face and voice for 5 credits each, once, which the free plan's 10 credits cover. Talking video then costs 2 credits a second on InfiniteTalk Fast ↗, so a 30 second post is 60 credits, about $1.27 on the Creator plan. The full price list for each kind of post is in five jobs and what each costs, and the tool for each job in which tool for which job.
Step 3: caption it
Most feed viewing is silent, so captions are part of the video rather than an extra. On Percify they burn in at 1 credit a second, so a 30 second post adds 30 credits, about $0.63.
Step 4: label it, and the rule differs by platform
| Platform | What it requires | Where you do it |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok | A label on realistic AI content, including AI generated speech | In the post settings; a label TikTok applies itself cannot be removed |
| YouTube | Disclosure when AI meaningfully alters or generates photorealistic content | The 'AI use' setting in YouTube Studio, which labels it for viewers |
| Facebook and Instagram | Disclosure of photorealistic video or realistic sounding audio that was digitally created | Meta's disclosure tool; viewers see "AI info" |
TikTok publishes its rule here ↗. YouTube publishes its rule here ↗, naming content that "makes a real person appear to say or do something they didn't do", and exempting content that is not realistic or edits that are "primarily aesthetic". Meta said on 6 February 2024 ↗ that it would require disclosure and that it may apply penalties when people do not, and renamed the viewer label ↗ from "Made with AI" to "AI info" on 1 July 2024.
A talking avatar of a real person is covered by all three.
Step 5: measure on the platform, not on a theory
TikTok publishes what its recommendation system uses and, just as usefully, what it does not: neither follower count nor past performance is a direct factor, and spam that seeks to inflate traffic may be ineligible for recommendation. The detail is in what TikTok says decides reach. Everything else you read about posting times and hashtag counts is somebody's guess, so treat your own analytics as the only test that applies to your account.
Ready to Create Your Own AI Avatar?
Make a talking video of yourself from one photo, in your own voice. No watermark on any plan.
Get Started FreeFree to start · no credit card
Got questions?
Frequently asked
On the big three, yes, when the content is realistic. TikTok requires a label on realistic AI content including AI speech; YouTube requires disclosure when AI meaningfully alters or generates photorealistic content, through the 'AI use' setting in YouTube Studio; Meta has required disclosure of photorealistic video or realistic sounding audio since 6 February 2024 and shows viewers an "AI info" label.
YouTube's help pages say Shorts creation tools make videos up to 3 minutes long, read on 16 September 2026. Instagram describes videos of up to 3 minutes and says Reels over 3 minutes will not be recommended to new audiences. Cut to the platform's length rather than making one video for all of them.
On Percify, read on 15 September 2026: your avatar is 10 credits once, which the free plan covers, then 2 credits a second of video and 1 credit a second of captions. A 30 second post with captions is 90 credits, about $1.90 on the Creator plan ($26 for 1,233 credits), and UGC hooks render for no credits within a daily allowance.
The platforms publish the requirement, not a ranking penalty for complying. TikTok does say that spam seeking to artificially increase traffic may be ineligible for recommendation, so the risk runs the other way: trying to hide what a video is carries more downside than labelling it.
It depends on the job: an avatar tool if the face should be yours without filming, a stock presenter studio if it should not be, an editor if you already film yourself, and a writing tool if words rather than video are the bottleneck. The five are sorted and priced in "which tool for which job".
