YouTube Premium gets new AI features to lure you into subscribing
YouTube is offering Premium subscribers the opportunity to try out a few new AI features in the mobile app.
The more impressive of the twoIn our opinion, it should be the conversational AI that answers questions about a video you’re watching and recommends other content. Under ‘Eligible Videos’ you will see an ‘Ask’ button below the channel name. Tapping it will open a chat interface where you can talk to it. You can ask any question you want about the video, or you can choose one of the preset prompts if you can’t think of any. The feature can summarize the clip for you or recommend other content.
It works fine for the most part, but keep in mind that this is an experimental condition. During the time we tested the conversation model, it was able to summarize videos accurately and concisely. For the most part, the recommendations were solid. If you look at the image below, you’ll see that the tool suggested a video from Vox on subtitles, even though we were looking at content related to Steve Jobs. For these types of errors, people can tap the thumbs up or thumbs down button to provide feedback to the YouTube software.
The conversational AI is currently only available in the YouTube app on Android for US users 18 years or older. Those interested should act quickly, as it’s only available until December 15.
The second AI feature is a comment summary that breaks down “large comment sections” on mobile into individual topics. It won’t be a widespread feature as it will be limited to videos in English.
To find this tool, go to the comments of a video. You’ll see a Topics tab with a star icon at the top. Opening it will bring up a menu showing all the discussions currently in progress.
We looked at videos from big channels and small creators to see if certain types of content are more likely to get the recap. It turns out that there doesn’t seem to be any pattern. It doesn’t matter how popular the channel is or whether the clip is viewed a lot. YouTube seems to be rolling out the tool randomly. Premium subscribers on Android and iOS have until December 5 to try out the summary before YouTube removes it.
Playable games
There’s a third experimental feature we’ve yet to mention: playable features. This is a collection of 30 games on YouTube’s homepage that you can play anytime; no downloading required.
You can find this on the homepage or the Discover menu on the left as its own item. To put it bluntly, there are no must-play titles in the collection. The library consists mainly of puzzles or easy-to-understand games. There’s the classic solitaire, a Wordle imitation called Hurdle, and Angry Birds to name a few. Nothing major, but they can be a fun way to waste some time.
Playables are not only available on mobile, but also on desktop. The games will also be available for a limited time, although they will last longer than the AI tools. You have until March 28, 2024 to try out the collection before the plug is pulled.
There’s no word on when this will all officially launch, although we’ve asked YouTube for more details. This story will be updated at a later date. If you’re thinking about becoming a creator, check out Ny Breaking’s list of the best YouTube cameras for 2023.