YouTube Expands AI Operations to Include Comment Summaries and Conversational Tools

In a notable advancement, YouTube is turning to generative AI to enhance viewer interactions within the platform. The latest improvements include a test on topic summaries for comments, designed to generate focused discussions, alongside a conversational AI tool, which provides viewers the opportunity to post inquiries about the videos they watch.

Starting with the topic summaries for comments, the feature aims to stimulate focused discussions around video clips by helping content creators acquire more comprehensive insights regarding viewer interests. YouTube's newly launched AI comment summaries are designed to initiate targeted debates in the comment section, which allows content creators to know their audience’s reactions and points of discussion concerning specific segments. For the participants in the experiment, a “Topics” tab will be available in the “Comments” section. Based on the video content, this tab will display different themes. These comment summaries function as a shortcut for creators to involve themselves in comment discussions on their videos or to incite new content ideas from the ongoing debates amongst their audience. To maintain control, creators retain the authority to dismiss any comment topics by removing particular comments associated with the chosen topic.

This innovation could potentially be a game-changer in enhancing viewer engagement for both creators and their audiences.

The new test feature is currently in the experimental stage, where English videos with large comment sections are used for testing. YouTube Premium users can volunteer for this experiment via youtube.com/new.

In addition to this, YouTube premiered its conversational AI tool. This tool aims to encourage viewers to delve further into topics by querying about the video content. The corresponding “Ask” option generates question suggestions based on the video clip, allowing viewers to explore different facets of the content. The ability to post unique queries for specific themes is also provided.

This feature holds promise in guiding discovery behaviors, suggesting topics for viewers’ in-depth exploration. However, YouTube's history of leading users into unexpected internet obsessions could be a possible issue despite its potential benefits.

Considering these features are under experimental stages and are actively evolving, the company maintains lenity towards unforeseen problems. The significant aspect worth noticing will be how these new chat features are taken by users and the impact they have on discovery within the app.

Just like the comment summaries, the “Ask” option is currently accessible to limited users based on a subset of videos. However, YouTube Premium users in the U.S. using Android devices will have the opportunity to be part of this experiment in the coming weeks.