By: Nick Gambino
Another day, another AI chatbot. Google already entered the AI race with Bard in their search engine and now they’re bringing new features to YouTube.
Back in September they launched generative AI on the popular video service, but they’re now testing two new AI features which may change the way you interact with videos. The first is a conversational AI much like Bard. This will help answer questions about the video you’re watching and suggest similar content.
This also allows you to dig deeper and will really help you on your journey down those infamous YouTube rabbit holes. This conversational AI tool is only available on a few select videos for now. It’ll soon open up to all YouTube Premium subscribers using Android who want to test it.
The second AI feature they’re testing is one that essentially summarizes video comments. A lot of us burn time on YouTube just eating up the comments, so I don’t how I feel about a robot giving me an overview. It’s the individual humor and, yes, insanity that makes the comment section sing. Never have I thought, “I want all of this collated into a neat little package devoid of human personality.”
Though, to be fair, they are really just creating these little summaries as headlines. If you click through, you can read the comments that fall under that summary or topic.
And again, they’re only testing these features, so we don’t know if they’re going to be included in the service on a more permanent basis. Even if they do make it to a wide rollout, Google could decide to pull them from YouTube if they prove unpopular over time. All YouTube Premium subscribers can opt in to test this feature right now.
“Google is full steam ahead on embracing AI as a meaningful tool,” Andrew Tropeano, a technology expert with NWT Media (www.nwtmediagroup.com), said. “That said, AI chatbots as they exist today are still in a nascent stage. We don’t know how the public is going to use it going forward. For all we know, it’ll prove unpopular and nothing more than a fad. Time will tell.”
