YouTube is testing two new AI-powered features that could make the video platform more engaging and informative for users. These features are currently only available to a limited amount of YouTube Premium subscribers.
As reported by 9to5Google, the first feature, called “Ask,” is a conversational AI that lets users ask questions about the videos they’re watching and get answers generated by large language models (LLMs). Users can also ask the AI to recommend related content.
The “Ask” button will appear on select English videos, and is currently only available to US English (18+) YouTube Premium subscribers on the Android app. YouTube plans to roll it out to more users in the coming weeks.
The second feature is an AI-powered tool that organizes large comment sections of long-form videos into easily digestible themes. This will help users find the comments they’re most interested in, and make it easier for creators to moderate their comment sections.
The “Topics” section will appear alongside the “Top” and “Newest” sort options on select videos with large comment sections. Creators will be able to remove any comment topics they don’t want, and delete individual comments that show up under specific topics.
Meanwhile, both of these features YouTube features are experimental and will be available via the You’Tube Premium “Try experimental new features” page on both the web and the app. Currently, I am only seeing the “Explore comment topics summarized by AI” feature available to me and the experiment will only be available through December 5th.
