YouTube Is Also Getting AI-Powered Reviews, and You Can Try Them Out Now
The tide is rising, the sun is setting, and Google is pushing out AI roundups on yet another product. This time, it’s YouTube getting the AI treatment .
The new feature will add “carousels” of clips that AI determines are relevant to the top of certain searches. At the moment, this feature is only available to a very ( very ) small group of users.
This is a feature similar to one you’ve probably seen in Google Search. Typically, if Google finds a YouTube video with a relevant part to your search, it will present a highlighted clip that you can watch without leaving Google itself. These new YouTube AI carousels are filled with many of those relevant clips and are paired with generative AI text summaries of the clips.
How to Enable AI Reviews on YouTube
Currently, AI-powered carousels are an experimental feature available only to YouTube Premium subscribers in the US and only when using search on an Android or iOS mobile device. If you want to enable them, follow these steps:
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Make sure you’re subscribed to YouTube Premium. While I wouldn’t recommend starting a full subscription just to try out a new feature, if you’re not subscribed, you won’t be able to see them. You can check your subscription status in the YouTube mobile app by tapping your profile icon and going to Settings > Purchases & Memberships.
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Make sure you’re in the US. I especially don’t recommend emigrating to another country to try out the experimental AI feature. But just in case your account location is set somewhere outside the US (like if you ‘re using a default VPN ), make sure YouTube thinks you’re in the US.
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Sign up for the experimental carousel feature. You may have already signed up to try experimental features, but you need to turn this one on directly. Go here or, in the YouTube app, go to Settings > Try experimental new features . Then turn on “AI-powered search results carousel.”
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Try searching for something related to shopping or places. Most searches will still return typical results, but Google will suggest topics related to shopping (e.g., “noise-canceling headphones”) or places (e.g., “best beaches in Hawaii”).
However, even if you follow all these steps, you may still not see the new feature. I’ve been a YouTube Premium subscriber since it was called YouTube Red , turned on this experiment, and tried the search examples (plus more), but I never saw the carousel. YouTube says the feature is only available to a “randomly selected number of Premium members,” so there doesn’t seem to be a guarantee that you’ll be able to try it even if you subscribe.
If you don’t want this feature, the good news is that you don’t have to do anything just yet. This experimental trial period will last until July 30. While that doesn’t necessarily mean it will become more widespread after that, it’s safe to say that you have at least another month before it becomes something you have to give up.