YouTube’s new AI tool can add your likeness to Shorts posted by other creators

On the heels of its annual Brandcast presentation, YouTube made more announcements at the Google I/O tech conference. As we’ve come to expect, several new and upcoming YouTube products have been built using generative AI, and a Gemini-powered tool for YouTube Shorts is one of the most intriguing new additions.

Gemini Omni can put you anywhere — even in someone else’s Shorts

There are already a handful of genAI tools that enhance and transform existing Shorts clips, and YouTube’s Gemini Omni integration is the latest addition to that arsenal. It can be found in the Shorts Remix menu, and it employs Google’s proprietary AI model to reimagine videos.

The remixing options made possible by Gemini Omni go far beyond basic AI prompts. Users can turn their live-action videos into animated clips or change the identity of the individuals depicted in those uploads. So if you’ve ever wanted to take a MrBeast Short and add your face to it, now you can — as long as you’re willing to lend your likeness to Gemini.

Videos changed with Gemini Omni will receive digital watermarks and will link back to the original clips. Creators can opt out of Shorts Remix features at any time.

For YouTube, enabling AI features and protecting against them is a balancing act

YouTube made its Google I/O announcements just one day after expanding its likeness detection tool

to all creators. By letting users control deepfaked versions of themselves, YouTube added another layer of protection that functions similarly to its copyright infringement tracker, Content ID.

Just as Content ID facilitated the rise of brand-name IP on YouTube, the likeness detection tool opens the floodgates for AI content. Now that creators can (in theory) control unlicensed AI representations across YouTube, the platform can roll out products like Gemini Omni while trusting that the use of those creative aids will be kept under control.

As long as YouTube’s anti-deepfake protections work, there will be more opportunities to develop products that use AI as boldly as Gemini Omni does. Therefore, it will be important for the platform to continue scaling up its moderation tools alongside its AI product suite.

An I/O full of AI

Gemini Omni isn’t the only new AI-powered product on YouTube. Google I/O attendees also got a first look at Ask YouTube, a conversational chatbot that will surface video recommendations based on conversational prompts.

Premium subscribers are the first YouTube users who will get their hands on the chatbot. For more details about YouTube’s AI-powered innovations, check out this blog post.