YouTube, owned by Google, is at the forefront of experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance its platform. The latest test involves AI-generated video summaries, as announced in a support page update on July 31st. These summaries aim to provide users with a quick overview of a video’s content, helping them decide if it’s worth watching. However, it’s important to note that these AI-generated summaries will not replace the human-written video descriptions provided by content creators.
The initial testing phase is limited, with only a select number of English-language videos and viewers having access to these summaries. YouTube intends to display them on both watch and search pages. The focus of this experiment is on how-to videos, shopping videos, and vlogs, and they will be available for viewers worldwide.
YouTube’s decision to experiment with AI-generated summaries stems from the staggering volume of content uploaded to the platform—over 500 hours of content are uploaded every minute. This sheer amount makes it difficult for humans to keep up with writing detailed summaries for each video.
This is not YouTube’s first venture into using AI for summarization purposes. The platform previously tested AI-produced video chapters, and this latest experiment is part of a broader generative AI push by Google. The company has been exploring AI’s potential in various areas, including its Bard chatbot and using AI technology to create anything from spreadsheet templates to news articles.
While AI-generated summaries hold promise for streamlining content discovery on YouTube, there are concerns regarding their accuracy. Google has acknowledged that generative systems like Bard may be prone to inaccuracies and misinformation, raising questions about the effectiveness of these video summaries in practice.
At present, AI-generated summaries are being tested with a limited number of users, and YouTube encourages feedback from viewers who encounter them. The platform has been actively introducing various features for testing purposes, and users can try these out by visiting youtube.com/new and logging in with their Google accounts.
As the AI-generated summaries expand beyond the testing phase, it remains to be seen how they will impact content creators and their video structures. YouTube creators often adapt their content to please the platform’s recommendation algorithm, and the introduction of AI summaries could add a new layer of complexity to this dynamic.
