Today, YouTube announced it is adding two new AI features, and one is sort of like AI overviews for its search results. The platform is also expanding access to its conversational AI tool that can answer questions about the video you are currently watching.
The primary update is a new AI-powered search results carousel. For now, this is exclusively for YouTube Premium members located in the United States. When you search for something like "best beaches in Hawaii," YouTube might generate a special carousel with short video clips and brief AI-written topic descriptions.
It's interesting to see YouTube try this, especially since Google's own AI Overviews had some dangerous hallucination issues at launch, like that infamous suggestion to add non-toxic glue to pizza.
The other update involves its conversational AI tool, which it introduced back in 2023. YouTube is now starting to test this with some non-Premium users in the US as well. If you are part of the test, you will see a new button labeled "Ask" positioned near the like and share buttons below a video.
Tapping it lets you directly ask questions about the content. For instance, if you are watching a tutorial, you could ask for a summary or even for a quiz on the main points. It feels like every company is desperately shoving a chatbot into its products now.
For creators, the AI-generated search carousel might turn into a serious problem. If people are getting everything they need from a summary without ever clicking through, there's not much reason to watch the actual video. That means fewer views, less watch time, and less money. Bad news if YouTube is your job.
YouTube says the AI pulls from creator videos to make these summaries, but a quiet nod isn't the same as sending real traffic. And it's still unclear if any of that credit actually helps creators in a meaningful way.
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