YouTube launched a new tool for creators on July 4th called “Erase Song.” This feature lets creators quickly delete copyrighted music from their videos while keeping the rest of the audio intact, such as dialogue and sound effects.

Neal Mohan, the CEO of YouTube, tweeted this update. He clarified that although YouTube has tried an earlier iteration of the eraser tool, copyrighted music was only sometimes successfully removed. With artificial intelligence (AI), the new program can precisely identify and remove particular songs from a movie while maintaining the integrity of the remaining audio.

However, like many AI tools, the results may sometimes be flawed. YouTube cautions that the tool might not successfully remove the copyrighted song if it’s difficult to separate from the rest of the audio. In such cases, creators have other options, like muting all sound in the flagged segments or trimming those video parts.

The “Erase Song” tool is one solution for creators dealing with copyright issues. Another option is muting specific video segments flagged for potential copyright violations. While this method is more straightforward, it loses all audio in those sections, not just the music.

When a creator uses these tools to alter their video appropriately, YouTube will take down the “content ID claim” linked to the copyrighted music. YouTube uses a technique called Content ID to identify copyrighted content in uploaded videos automatically.

This new feature gives YouTube artists more control over copyrighted music in their videos while maintaining the integrity of the rest of their content. It seeks to ease the editing process and minimize disruption for creators on the site who are confronting copyright issues.