Google, just like Meta and Microsoft, is augmenting its apps and services with AI-powered features. Many of these end up being very useful, while others are barely touched by those using some of the most popular apps these tech giants own. YouTube is
no stranger to AI features, as the online video service has already released updates that focus on AI. This week’s update brings two new AI-powered features to users in the United States. One is reserved for Premium users, while the other should be available for everyone regardless of their membership status.If you’re a Premium user, you can now try out a new AI-powered search results carousel, which recommends videos and topic descriptions by creators on the online video service.
For the time being, the new AI-generated carousel highlighting clips from videos only appears on searches related to shopping, travel, or things to do in a specific place. Once again, this is only available for Premium users in the United States. If you fit the profile, make sure to visit
YouTube’s dedicated website to
enroll in the experimental program to try out any new features the service releases.
Besides the new AI-powered search results carousel, YouTube is also rolling out its conversational tool to “some non-Premium” users in the United States. It’s unclear how many will be getting this, but if you’re not in the US, it doesn’t even matter.YouTube’s conversational AI was made available to Premium users about two years ago, so this seems to be a big step toward expanding more AI-powered features to non-Premium users.As the name suggests, this feature has been designed to answer questions and suggest related content in real-time without interrupting your playback experience. Since it’s only been released in the US, it’s only available in English. The conversational AI tool was only launched for YouTube users on Android, which was another big limitation at the time of its release. YouTube
says the release of its conversational AI tool will happen in waves in the coming days, as part of a test. This means that the AI-powered feature remain in beta and access to it will continue to be restricted to a limited number of users.
