YouTube can soon let you chat your way to videos with new AI search feature

Google is currently testing a new AI-powered search experience for YouTube that aims to make content discovery more conversational. This is an experimental feature that is currently available to a limited number of YouTube Premium users in the United States aged 18 and up. According to reports, a few users have already received the Ask YouTube option within the search interface.

Survey

Users can now enter queries in natural language and receive a combination of AI-generated summaries, curated long-form videos, Shorts, and contextual highlights. Rather than the traditional search result, the feature offers an overview of the topic that includes key points followed by the relevant video segments and content collections.

For example, a search for the Apollo 11 Moon Landing will first offer a brief summary including milestones, related videos and Shorts. Further, the users can also continue the interaction by asking more questions.

The feature also includes additional queries, which encourage deeper exploration of topics. However, early testing indicates that, while AI summaries are generally useful, they may occasionally contain inaccuracies, emphasising the importance of users verifying information.

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The company has already implemented similar AI experiences in other products and is rumoured to expand this YouTube experiment beyond Premium users in the future. If it gets rolled out, the feature can change the way how users interact with video content.

How to use ‘Ask YouTube’ search

• Enable and access the YouTube Premium Early Access section if you have access.
• Once started, you will see the Ask YouTube option next to the search bar
• Now search your query and the system will start processing it
• After a short time, the interface shifts to an AI-driven results page.
• At the top, you will see a short summary along with a featured video selected for your query.
• The top video may start playing from a specific timestamp relevant to your search.
• Scroll down to find more related long-form videos and Shorts grouped into sections.

Ashish Singh

Ashish Singh is the Chief Copy Editor at Digit. He's been wrangling tech jargon since 2020 (Times Internet, Jagran English '22). When not policing commas, he's likely fueling his gadget habit with coffee, strategising his next virtual race, or plotting a road trip to test the latest in-car tech. He speaks fluent Geek. View Full Profile