INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — TikTok’s recent vows about artificial intelligence have grabbed the attention of many, including Indiana University professor Scott Shackleford.

Shackleford is the executive director of IU’s Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. Fitting for an educator, Shackleford has given the social media companies a report card.

Spoiler: It’s not good.

“I’m sorry to say that I gave TikTok a D,” Shackleford told News 8.

The company says it will start labeling content created through artificial intelligence and uploaded to the site. The goal is to combat misinformation.

Shackleford says he’d consider giving the website a B, if TikTok lives up to its new pledge.

“It’s just so easy now to impersonate pretty much anybody,” Shackleford said. “Just with a single picture or a couple of seconds of audio, you can recreate a digital persona to make more or less anybody — whether it’s a (political) candidate or your neighbor — say or look like they’re doing more or less whatever you want. That’s a brave new world that we’re just frankly not ready for.”

TikTok is not the first social media giant to vow to make an AI commitment. Google has said it will label A.I. content on YouTube, and Meta has indicated the same for Instagram and Facebook.

Shackleford says he is optimistic that the social media companies can follow through on their AI promises.

“Indeed, it is possible,” he said. “We’re getting better at identifying AI-generated content in real time, particularly pictures. I’ve got to say that videos and audio are still a lot tougher. It seems to be evolving so fast.”

The issue is getting extra attention in the United States with it being a general election year. The specter of intentional misinformation looms large.

Shackleford says everyone needs to be aware of the possible problems and work actively to avoid them.

“I liken this to an aspect of digital citizenship these days, right? We need to be mindful of this, these issues before we spread content. So, before you share something that might look a little bit, you know, funny – maybe it’s something that the candidate really wouldn’t have expected to say — think twice.”