AI Junk Will Appear on Your YouTube Feed
Man-made trash has taken over Facebook , and then it will appear on YouTube. And like the homeowner who doesn’t seem to mind that the stranger at his door doesn’t have a reflection, Google lets him in.
Today at the Made on YouTube event in New York, Google announced AI features for creators, including AI-generated video titles, ideas, comment replies, and even full short films. There are also some non-AI additions, such as a “hype” system that works similar to “super likes” and is intended to help smaller creators grow, but the bulk of the updates are focused on ways to help creators shunt some of their workload onto the robots.
Most notable is Veo, a new video generation model added to Google’s existing Dream Screen feature. While Dream Screen previously only used AI to create backgrounds for short films on YouTube, Veo is updating the feature to the point where it can create full-length videos. In addition to the ability to generate entire videos, Google also promises that Dream Screen will create “more realistic backgrounds.”
The catch is that these short films created by Veo can only be six seconds long (at least for now), so it will be a while before the AI starts writing hours-long essays. However, it’s worth remaining vigilant about what may or may not be available as the platform begins to officially support these features. Luckily, YouTube says Veo shorts will be watermarked.
However, those hoping that AI won’t impact their longer viewing habits can’t breathe easy just yet. With the new Inspirations tab in the YouTube Studio app, creators can now view AI-generated video concepts along with suggested titles, AI-generated thumbnails, script outlines, and a few sample lines. It can be difficult to keep up with changes in a site’s algorithm, especially when you’re being pressured to upload longer videos more often—the Inspiration tab can help Google help creators know what’s likely to rank well when it’s not. It doesn’t look like videos made with it will be watermarked in any way.
AI will also help YouTube users post-video, integrating with another new feature—Communities—to help them connect directly with their audience. While communities as a whole operate as a forum and creators will be able to respond manually, the AI will also offer creators information that will quickly understand them what’s going on in their hub, as well as suggest them responses that YouTube says will be a “starting point” when discussion with the audience. Again, the AI-generated responses don’t seem to have any markers.
Both of these features, while time-saving, pose a potential risk to the “You” in Tube, especially when it comes to the authenticity that so many YouTubers sell themselves on. Aside from the worry that your favorite creator’s responses might have just been put together by a robot, there’s also the possibility that since the algorithm uses AI to suggest video concepts to creators, it ends up just learning once those videos are successful, creating a sort of a feedback loop where robots train robots and limit the types of videos creators can create while maintaining enough views to stay afloat.
YouTube’s new AI integrations have accessibility benefits. The company also showed off a new auto-dubbing feature that creators can enable to have the AI translate and dub their videos into a foreign language. This will help them reach a wider audience, although it is unclear what the quality of translation and voice acting will be. If it’s something like YouTube’s automatic captions, then it may not work for every topic. However, Google’s Gemini Live voices do a good job of sounding natural.
While more people are reporting that they’ve gained access to some of YouTube’s custom artificial intelligence , today’s announcements were limited to creators. This means viewers will have to be more mindful of how much human touch is present in their content. The days of laughing at grandmas for being fooled by obvious AI art are a thing of the past—zoomers and generation alphas should be prepared for it to arrive on their platforms of choice, and in a more subtle way. While not everyone is generally against AI content, due to the speed at which it can be created, there is still a risk in inviting it onto any social media site as it can quickly crowd out all other types of posts. Ignoring this can quickly lead to a useless home feed.
YouTube is certainly not ignoring the risks of using AI in its channels, and parent company Google is developing tools to make it more transparent about its use of AI . These new AI features will be rolled out gradually starting late this year or early next year, presumably after a lot of testing and maybe after the site hangs a few garlic wreaths, just to be on the safe side.