YouTube has been working on different AI tools since September, a number of which are useful for content creators. Now, the platform is adding an AI-powered feature, a conversational chatbot that gives users more information on the content they’re watching.
According to Google, the AI conversational tool “lets you get answers to questions about the video you’re watching, recommendations for related content, and more, all without interrupting playback.” For a deeper understanding of the topic, this tool will also quiz users on the topic.
This chatbot is only available in English and can be accessed by select users on a subset of videos. In the coming weeks, it will be available on Android devices and for Premium subscribers in the U.S. Users who are part of the experiment can access the tool by tapping the “Ask” button underneath the videos. They ask questions on the chatbot or choose from the suggested prompts.
In the same announcement, YouTube is also working on another AI experiment that summarizes the topics of large comment sections. This upcoming AI tool will help users understand the video better by allow them to read comments categorized into different topics.
As seen the screenshot below, the comment section in MrBeast’s “7 Days Stranded at Sea” video is grouped into the following topics: “People love Bryan the bird,” “Lazarbeam should be in more videos” and “no submarine.” For a popular video like this, with 170 million views and 117k comments, it’s helpful for both creators and users to get a general consensus on what people are saying about the video. It will also help people read about specific topics about the video without having to search much.
The tool is available on English videos with large comment sections. Premium subscribers can also test out this feature here: youtube.com/new. On videos where the tool is available, users can simply head over to the comment section and tap the Topics button.
Both the AI-powered conversational tool and comment summarizer are part of the platform’s push to integrate help AI tools for creators and users. And we may see more AI tools coming to YouTube in the near future. Regarding these AI tools, YouTube wrote a disclaimer saying these “features are experimental, and we may not always get it right.” So, if these tools are available to you, test them out and let us know what you think.
