• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, October 5, 2017

YouTube is "accelerating" the rollout of planned changes to its search engine, tweaking the algorithm that promotes authoritative sources in results at the top of the query page.

The move resulted from Google's algorithm serving up fake news, information and misinformation at the top of query results pages during several recent breaking news events. It uses artificial intelligence, as well as other technology, to push down news from unsubstantiated sources.  

The Wall Street Journal reports these planned changes are being made a priority, based on the finding that the "fifth result when searching 'Las Vegas shooting' on YouTube late Tuesday yielded a video titled 'Proof Las Vegas Shooting Was a FALSE FLAG attack—Shooter on 4th Floor,'" among other pieces of news.

The point could become moot, as companies may need to develop new technology that detects fake news.

Gartner published research this week showing that by 2020, fake content will outpace AI's ability to detect it.