WASHINGTON, April 24 -- YouTube is offering Hollywood celebrities and entertainers a free detection tool to help combat their deepfakes, expanding the Google-owned video platform's efforts to guard against AI-driven impersonations.

Last month, YouTube introduced its likeness protection tool - which helps identify content in which a person's face appears altered or generated using AI technology - to government officials, journalists, and political candidates.

The platform is now extending access to entertainers including actors and musicians, who face a heightened risk of having their likeness misused - potentially harming their careers and distorting shared realities.

"We're expanding our likeness detection technology to the entertainm...