YouTube will introduce a new conversational artificial intelligence for the masses. Tuesday, the company announced it is beginning to roll out the new tool, which allows users to ask questions about the content of a particular video, for YouTube Premium subscribers in the US. This feature had already been in beta, but now a new button has been added under their videos so more people can respond to the chatbot. ‘pause ads’ or ‘ads that play when a video has been paused’ are also expanded to a wider range of users on YouTube.
New Conversational AI for YouTube Premium Subscribers
The company made the feature announcement through the TeamYouTube handle on X, formerly known as Twitter. Currently, it’s available to YouTube Premium subscribers using their Android devices in the US. It did not specify when it will roll out to other users.
Soon, those who get the feature will see a new Ask button underneath the videos, in the same row as the Like, Share, and Download buttons. The new button is followed by the sparkle icon, which Google is now using to denote AI-based features. Tapping this button opens a window in the place of the comment section, enabling users to type questions about the video.
Such viewers can ask the AI to comment on that video, for example about a certain object that appears in the video, the genre of a certain song being played in the video, or a summary of the video. They also require the AI to recommend some other contents in a support page, where the company has highlighted that the tool may not be present in every video. It presently supports only selective English-language videos.
Neither did the company disclose the name of the large language model on which this feature is being used nor mention the type of LLM employed in gathering the data for itself. However, it reported that the “LLMs draw on info from YouTube and the web”. Thus, the conversational AI tool is not dependent solely on subtitle data and video processing for answering queries from users.
It will collect data whenever a user interacts with the tool and submits a query. The company claims that the data is used to improve and develop products and services. All the user’s conversations will be automatically deleted from the servers after 45 days.
Bhupendra Singh Chundawat is a seasoned technology journalist with over 22 years of experience in the media industry. He specializes in covering the global technology landscape, with a deep focus on manufacturing trends and the geopolitical impact on tech companies. Currently serving as the Editor at Udaipur Kiran, his insights are shaped by decades of hands-on reporting and editorial leadership in the fast-evolving world of technology.
