YouTube’s new AI feature is actually really helpful

Google’s AI is everywhere, and its next goal is to transform the YouTube experience. The platform is currently testing a new coversational AI feature to help viewers get the most out of the videos they watch by facilitating real-time question-and-answer interactions directly within videos.

Currently, this feature is in the experimental phase and is limited to YouTube’s Android app for YouTube Premium subscribers who are 18 years or older and based in the United States.

Once you enable the feature for your account, you’ll start to notice an “Ask” button beneath eligible videos. Viewers can then type in questions pertaining to the video or choose from provided prompts requesting summaries or related content. The AI will then process both the video content and the query, offering context-relevant responses without pausing playback.

The responses seem to be reasonably accurate and surprisingly swift, indicating that Google’s AI might already be pre-analyzing YouTube videos even before we invoke the feature.

As far as I could check, most videos where English is being used to talk or narrate the content did show the Ask prompt, including all of our latest videos on the Android Authority YouTube channel. Informational videos with a mix of Hindi and English language didn’t show the Ask prompt, and the same goes for music videos.

For now, YouTube states that this feature will only be available until May 1, but I can’t wait for it to roll out publicly. There’s a treasure trove of informational videos and tutorials on YouTube, and having a way to quickly summarize them or ask about the specific thing you’re looking for could be fantastic.