YouTube is significantly enhancing its content discovery capabilities by rolling out new AI-powered features, aiming to help users find information and content more easily. These innovations include an AI-powered search results carousel, akin to Google’s AI Overviews, and an expansion of its conversational AI tool to a broader user base. These advancements mark a new era for YouTube, focusing on streamlined user experience and enhanced search efficiency.

The newly introduced AI-powered search results carousel is currently available exclusively to YouTube Premium subscribers within the United States. This feature is designed to suggest relevant videos and provide brief, AI-generated topic descriptions, enabling users to quickly locate desired content. It is particularly activated for searches related to shopping, specific places, or activities to do in a given location. For instance, a search for “best beaches in Hawaii” would trigger an AI-generated carousel showcasing clips from videos highlighting top snorkel spots and volcanic beaches, complete with descriptions and additional related videos to aid in planning. While this carousel aims to ease content discovery for users, it has raised concerns among content creators. Similar to how Google’s AI Overviews have impacted traffic for news publishers, creators fear that if users can derive necessary information directly from the AI-generated carousel, they may bypass clicking into the video, potentially reducing engagement and revenue.

In parallel, YouTube is expanding the availability of its conversational AI tool, making it accessible to some non-Premium users after its initial launch in late 2023. This tool leverages AI to provide users with more detailed information, personalized content recommendations, and concise summaries of videos. It also offers a unique feature allowing users to quiz themselves on key concepts presented in academic videos. The tool’s responses are generated by large language models, drawing information from both YouTube’s vast content library and the broader web. This ensures that the responses are designed to help viewers delve deeper into the content they are watching. For example, when watching a roller skate dance tutorial, the conversational AI might prompt the user, asking if they wish to “summarize the video” or “recommend related content.” Users can also pose their own specific questions, such as “What’s the song in this video?” and receive details like the song title, artist, and genre.

YouTube’s AI Overviews, particularly for Premium users, significantly transform the shopping and local search experience. These overviews utilize advanced machine learning algorithms to offer summaries, recommendations, and curated facts based on search queries and viewing history. Key aspects include AI-powered summarization for quickly grasping core information, personalized recommendations tailored to viewing interests, and enhanced search results that are more extensive and contextually relevant. When a Premium user searches, the AI analyzes the query to deliver video snippets of key moments, concise summaries, and supplemental information, including links to related websites and products sourced from video content.

For Premium users, YouTube AI offers an enhanced shopping experience through seamless product integration. This includes shopable products directly purchasable via integrated links within videos, dedicated shopping tabs on creator channels for browsing and discovery, and personalized product recommendations based on viewing history. Similarly, AI Overviews revolutionize how users find local businesses, providing detailed business profiles with contact information, opening hours, and reviews. The AI understands location-based search terms, providing geographically relevant results and curated local content to showcase nearby establishments. These features collectively aim to save users time, improve decision-making through detailed information access, enhance content discovery, and offer a more personalized overall experience.

YouTube’s venture into AI-powered search is an ongoing evolution, with the platform consistently investing in machine learning technologies to refine search accuracy and relevance. The introduction of the AI Overviews-like carousel represents a significant next step in this journey, promising a more intuitive and efficient search experience. As AI technology continues to advance, further integration across the platform is anticipated, making content discovery even more seamless for users globally.