Google’sAI Overviewshave a mixed reputation. While it can provide information quickly, it isn’t always accurate. Earlier this year, it had trouble correctlyidentifying the year(which Google has now resolved), and there have been controversies in the past, such as one involving incorrect information aboutGouda cheesein a Google Super Bowl ad.
Although Google’s AI Overview isn’t always wrong, many peopleremain cautious. With this in mind, Google plans to expand AI Overviews beyond Google Search to include YouTube now, introducing it as a new search feature for Premium members to test.
Google made the annoucement in arecent blog post, saying that its new AI-powered search results on YouTube will “suggest videos and topic descriptions by creators across YouTube.” YouTube’s AI recommendations will show up in an AI-generated carousel of videos at the top of search results, which you can scroll through. While Google isn’t calling it AI Overviews for YouTube, it’s hard not to see the similarities. You can check out the feature in action below.
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YouTube’s new AI feature won’t pop up for every search
The test is only available to “randomly selected” Premium members in the US until July 30
In its current form, YouTube’s new AI search feature only works with certain searches related to “shopping, travel, or things to do in a specific place.” So if you’re looking up videos on anything else, the new AI-generated carousel of video recommendations won’t pop up. In the video YouTube posted, the new AI carousel appeared for inquiries such as “best beaches in Hawaii” or “Noise cancelling headphones.”
When the carousel appears after your search, you’ll see an AI overview, which YouTube refers to as “Highlights,” along with Google’s AI star, to indicate the use of AI. you may then scroll left and right through the carousel, and a short preview of each video will play. Tapping on a video will take you to its page to watch the whole thing. Underneath the carousel, an AI-generated summary of the video is displayed. Finally, Google has a disclaimer at the bottom, which reads: “AI-generated, quality and accuracy may vary.”
Currently, this feature is only available to a “randomly selected number” of YouTube Premium members in the US. So even if you have Premium, there’s a chance you might not see it. Additionally, it’s only available on iOS and Android, not on YouTube’s desktop site. According to the YouTube experiments page, the test runs until July 30th.
If YouTube decides to roll this out to all users in the future, I hope it at least allows people to turn it off.
YouTube is currently testing the feature, so it’s entirely possible that after July 30, it will go back to the drawing board, which I hope happens. I love using YouTube, but the last thing I want is AI mishmash when I’m searching for videos. I’ve had no trouble finding videos on the platform for the past 20 years, and I don’t think this AI-generated carousel will suddenly be helpful.
That said, I understand how this could be helpful for some people. If YouTube decides to roll this out to all users in the future, I hope it at least allows people to turn it off. That way, if you want to use it, you can, but if not, you don’t have to see it. Select YouTube Premium members in the US can try out YouTube’s new AI search feature now until July 30.
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