YouTube made an exciting announcement on Monday, revealing two new experimental generative AI features that will be available to YouTube Premium subscribers. The first feature is an AI-powered comment summarizer, while the second is a conversational AI tool that answers viewers’ questions about the video they’re watching. These features are opt-in, meaning they will only be visible to paid members who choose to participate in the testing periods.
The AI-powered comment summarizer aims to make it easier for viewers to navigate through the comments section of popular videos. The tool organizes comments into “easily digestible themes” so that viewers can quickly get a sense of the overall sentiment. For example, in a Mr. Beast video used as an example, the tool generated topics such as “People love Bryan the bird,” “Lazarbeam should be in more videos,” “No submarine,” and “More 7 day challenges.” Viewers can tap on a topic to view the complete list of associated comments. However, it’s important to note that this feature will only be available on a small number of videos in English with large comment sections.
If you’re concerned about the comment summaries spiraling out of control, you’ll be relieved to know that YouTube has implemented some safeguards. The tool will not pull content from unpublished messages, comments held for review, any containing blocked words, or those from blocked users. Additionally, creators have the option to delete individual comments if they come across problematic or unwanted discussions about their videos.
The second AI feature introduced by YouTube is the conversational AI tool. This tool is designed to provide viewers with a chatbot that is trained on the specific video they’re watching. Powered by large language models, the assistant allows viewers to “dive in deeper” by asking questions about the content and receiving related recommendations. The AI tool draws information from YouTube and the web, providing answers without interrupting the video playback experience. Eligible users can access this feature through a new “Ask” button in the YouTube app for Android.
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YouTube Premium subscribers can now opt into the comment summarizer on YouTube’s experiments page. However, it’s important to note that not all videos will have the “Topics” option. As for the conversational AI tool, it is currently only available to a small number of users on a subset of videos. However, YouTube Premium subscribers with Android devices will be able to sign up to try it in the coming weeks. YouTube does caution that these experimental features may not always be perfect, but it’s an exciting step forward in the world of AI technology.
These new AI features from YouTube reflect the company’s continued dedication to enhancing the user experience on the platform. Through comment summarization and conversational AI, YouTube is making it easier for viewers to engage with videos and find the information they’re looking for. As the tests progress and user feedback is gathered, YouTube will likely make improvements to these features to ensure they meet the needs and expectations of their audience.
