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If the impending arrival of Veo 3 on YouTube Shorts isn’t enough generative AI for you, don’t worry: Google is determined to imbue YouTube with as many AI-powered features as possible. The latest update introduces a pair of new genAI features: A search carousel that resembles Google Search’s AI Overviews, and an expanded version of a conversational AI chatbot.
As explained in a YouTube blog post, the new search carousels offer a contextual alternative to standard results. The content that shows up in the carousels will include videos from “creators across YouTube.” An embedded Shorts clip provides a first look:
The similarly structured AI Overviews on Google Search have proven to be quite contentious. Some users have found them so onerous that they have developed browser extensions to remove them. Google execs have argued that criticisms of the feature — and its effect on search traffic — are overstated.
The purpose of these AI-driven results is to make searches more dynamic and more similar to TikTok’s results pages. TikTok’s ascension to become a legitimate search hub
caused the alarm bells to sound at Google HQ, though the growth of that phenomenon has since slowed.Dynamism and added context are also clear goals of YouTube’s other new feature. The conversational chatbot, which was initially tested among YouTube’s paying subscribers, is now being rolled out to some users without Premium status. “Premium members already love it for getting more info, recommendations, and even quizzing themselves on key concepts in academic videos,” reads the blog post. “Try it out to discover new videos or master unknown topics.”
YouTube typically tests new features within its Premium tier, with youtube.com/new serving as the landing page for ongoing experiments. That’s where Premium subscribers can go now if they want to experience YouTube’s AI-powered search results. That test is scheduled to be active until July 30. The jury’s still out on how popular these genAI features will be, so YouTube’s test period will allow it to gather some crucial data.
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