YouTube wants creators to use its AI-driven tools to make the Shorts of their dreams

YouTube is a top distribution platform for creators, but the Google-owned hub wants to integrate itself into the production pipeline, too. At its Made On YouTube event, CEO Neal Mohan announced multiple AI-driven tools that are designed to provide inspiration and streamline the video creation process.

The new tools will enhance the creator experience on YouTube Shorts. Three years after unveiling its TikTok competitor, YouTube is helping its short-form community concoct videos that are out of this world. The platform’s Dream Screen will bring “fantastic settings” to Shorts by harnessing the power of generative AI. Users will input setting ideas into the Dream Screen and receive AI-generated backgrounds in response.

During the Made On event, Mohan claimed that YouTube’s push into AI will open up new opportunities for aspiring creators. “Many people today believe that becoming a YouTuber is out of their reach,” Mohan said. “At YouTube, we want to make it so everyone can feel like they can create. We feel like generative AI will make that possible.”

YouTube’s adoption of AI is not limited to the Dream Screen. The platform is also developing “AI-generated insights.” Starting next year, those suggestions will be integrated into the YouTube Studio, where they will provide relief for creators who are suffering from writer’s block.

“AI Insights is designed to help spark your next idea and outline suggestions based on what your audience is already watching on YouTube,” reads a post summarizing this year’s Made On announcements. “In our initial test, more than 70 percent of those surveyed said it’s helped them develop and test ideas for videos.”

YouTube’s hope is that its decision to embrace AI will bring more users to its short-form hub. At the Made On event, YouTube announced that Shorts now gets 70 billion daily views from two billion monthly logged-in users.

Other parts of YouTube’s business will also be enhanced by AI. The platform has already given creators a tool that cuts their long-form videos into Shorts, and it’s plotting an incubator for music creators that will inform its “artist-centric” approach to AI.

Made On attendees got more details about that incubator. Singer-songwriter Charlie Puth showed up on stage alongside YouTube Global Head of Music Lyor Cohen. Puth announced that he will be part of the incubator, joining international pop stars like Anitta and Juanes.

Cohen revealed that AI-powered suggestions will bring new search options to Creator Music, the audio licensing service YouTube announced earlier this year. Like other execs at YouTube, Cohen clearly has big plans for generative AI, but his stated goal is to support artists and their art. “There is no replacement for human creation,” Cohen said. “We see AI as a tool that can be used by artists to amplify and accelereate their creativity and creation.”

Other features discussed during the Made On presentation include an integration with Aloud that will let creators dub videos into multiple languages and a new app called YouTube Create. More details about the event can be found here.