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ShutterstockOne of YouTube’s most recent AI initiatives is a brand-new chatbot that aims to inform you further about a video you’re now viewing. Google refers to this service as a “conversational AI tool” on its support page; it can answer your questions regarding a video and suggest relevant information.
In addition, if you’re watching an instructional video, it might quiz you on the subject. The experimental function and another AI tool that attempts to categorize comments in a video into subjects have been announced together.
These additions are part of Google’s larger effort to incorporate AI into all of its services, which also includes Gmail, Office productivity suite, and Search. Particularly, YouTube has already revealed a number of AI-powered tools for content producers, including AI-generated backgrounds for Shorts, an AI dubbing function for translating films into various languages, and AI-powered audio and video recommendations.
YouTube is making it clear that for the time being, both of its new AI technologies are only accessible as part of small trials. The conversational AI tool is only accessible in English, on a limited number of films, on Android devices, and to Premium customers in the US who are at least 18 years old, according to the platform’s support page.
When available, it can be accessed by selecting the “Ask” button located beneath the video. Screenshots of the feature allow you to type your own prompts or choose from pre-generated ones that ask the chatbot to explain the movie or suggest relevant stuff.
The video platform had previously disclosed that in July, it would be testing the use of AI to automatically create video summaries. However, the new tool seems to have a wider range of uses, including information about movies other than the ones you’re presently watching, as well as answers to particular queries in addition to AI-generated summaries.
YouTube has also revealed a new AI-powered function called comment categorization, which attempts to group comments on a video into distinct themes in addition to the conversational AI tool.
“People love Bryan the bird,” “Lazarbeam should be in more videos,” and the slightly more puzzling topic “no submarine” are examples of comment topics that are displayed under a MrBeast video (where Google claims comments have been “simulated for illustrative purposes”).
Additionally, the subjects feature is being tested and will appear on a “limited quantity of English-language videos with extensive comment sections.” When available, the functionality can be reached by clicking on a new “Topics” button, which will show up next to the current options for sorting comments by “Top” or “Newest.”
Video creators will be able to “use these comment summaries to more quickly jump into comment discussions on their videos, or to draw inspiration for new content based on what their audiences are discussing,” according to YouTube’s blog post, which highlights the advantages of this feature for them.
YouTube is cautioning that “we may not always get it right” with the experiments using both AI techniques. The video platform will need to exercise caution, especially when it comes to YouTube comments, to prevent its generative AI from repeating the worst parts of a contentious comment section.
If you’re a premium member and would like to test the features, go to youtube.com/new. There, you may sign up to test the chatbot in the upcoming weeks and test the comment classification option right now.
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