YouTube is going big on AI. At its Made on YouTube event in New York City last Thursday (September 21), the platform unveiled a raft of new AI tools, some of which will be available immediately, while others will be rolled out later this year and next.
“Making it easier for creators anywhere to create content they love is core to YouTube’s commitment to putting creative power into the hands of billions of people,” YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said.
“Today is the start of a new era of creativity. We can’t wait to see what our incredible community of creators and artists make on YouTube.”
Among the new tools announced is Dream Screen, a tool that will allow creators of YouTube Shorts – the short-video format the platform introduced to compete with TikTok – to generate video or backgrounds for video by typing an idea into a prompt.
That tool will be available to Shorts creators later this year. YouTube also announced that Shorts videos are now receiving 70 billion daily views, up from 50 billion in January – a clear sign that it plans to dominate the space that has belonged to TikTok for several years at this point.
The platform also announced a new mobile app called YouTube Create, which appears to be YouTube’s answer to TikTok’s CapCut, the popular tool for editing short-form videos on the go.
YouTube Create will offer video editing tools such as “precision editing and trimming, automatic captioning, voiceover capabilities and access to a library of filters, effects, transitions and royalty-free music with beat matching technology.”
The Create app “gives creators the confidence that whatever we make on YouTube Create will be optimized for the platform,” YouTube creator Alan Chaikin Chow said. “An app like this will open the door for more people and make becoming a YouTuber that much more accessible.”
The tool is free of charge and is available in beta testing mode on Android devices in the US, UK, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea, the company said.
On top of these tools, YouTube said it’s bringing Aloud – an AI-powered instant dubbing tool – to its platform, enabling creators to offer users versions of their videos dubbed into various languages.
The tool is currently “available to select users” and is being tested in English, Spanish and Portuguese, the company said.
YouTube is also planning to roll out an AI assistant for its Creator Music audio library. Creators will be able to type in a search query and Creator Music will offer suggestions for “the right music at the right place” in their video.
Finally, starting next year, the YouTube Studio tool will integrate generative AI that will “spark video ideas and draft outlines to help creators brainstorm.”
The tool will use insights from viewer analytics to suggest ideas for future videos, and will reportedly even provide specific points creators can touch on in their videos to maximize viewership performance.
YouTube said it’s testing “early versions” of this tool with creators, and more than 70% have told them that the tool has proven useful for generating video ideas.
The new suite of tools comes as competing social media platforms – particularly TikTok – have been rolling out AI technology in an effort to improve the user experience for creators and boost view counts.
Earlier this year, TikTok parent company ByteDance rolled out Ripple, a free-to-use generative AI music-making tool that enables video creators to generate their own music for their videos.
The app has two key features: One is a “melody-to-song” music generator, where a creator can hum a melody, that Ripple can turn into an instrumental music number in a variety of different genres.
The other feature is a virtual recording studio that allows users to record or edit audio on their mobile device.
ByteDance says its AI model was trained on music that is licensed to or owned by Bytedance, and the company told MBW that it was not trained on major record company music.
Other social media platforms are also rolling out AI tools for its creators or users. Recent news reports suggest that Meta is planning to roll out a generative AI chatbot for Facebook and Instagram.
The chatbot will reportedly come in a variety of “personas,” including a “sassy” version modeled after Bender from the animated series Futurama. The chatbot could be unveiled as soon as this week, at Meta’s Connect event, which starts on September 27.
“Making it easier for creators anywhere to create content they love is core to YouTube’s commitment to putting creative power into the hands of billions of people.”
Neal Mohan, YouTube
YouTube’s announcement of new AI tools came a month after the platform announced a partnership with Universal Music Group to jointly develop AI tools that offer “safe, responsible and profitable” opportunities to music rights holders.
One key aspect of this partnership will be a “Music AI Incubator” at YouTube that will develop new AI tools in close cooperation with artists and the music business. Other music industry players are being invited to get involved.
“The potential of AI is incredibly exciting. But as with any new technology, we have to approach it responsibly. What artists, songwriters, and producers do is something that is uniquely human, that cannot be replaced by technology,” YouTube’s Global Head of Music, Lyor Cohen, said at the Made on YouTube event.
“We see AI as a tool that can be used by artists to amplify and accelerate their creativity. And we are committed to working alongside the creative community within our AI Music Incubator, which has now expanded globally. We are also leaning into our superpower – our deep partnerships with the music industry 00 working back-to-back with them to achieve our collective goals of fueling creativity and driving business forward.”Music Business Worldwide
