What you need to know
- YouTube announced the launch of “YouTube Labs,” a dedicated space for testers and the platform to craft what’s next for AI for videos, music, and more.
- YouTube’s first test involves the YouTube Music app, as users will get to interact with its new “AI music hosts,” which provide commentary, facts, and trivia.
- YouTube Labs is only accepting a limited number of U.S. testers as sign-ups go live.
YouTube looks like it wants to take its AI tests a little more seriously on its platform, and it wants to get testers involved more appropriately.
Announced today (Sep 26), YouTube states that it has launched its “YouTube Labs” test environment for interested participants. The platform leads its announcement by stating users can “shape the future of AI on YouTube” by engaging. The vice president of YouTube Labs, Aparna Pappu, welcomed users to YouTube Labs, a “dedicated” space for developing AI on the platform.
YouTube Labs is open for a limited number of U.S. testers beginning today (Sep 26).
If you manage to get invited, the post states the first experiment is about “AI Music Hosts.” While this may sound like Google’s NotebookLM hosts for studying, YouTube assures these AI hosts are all about entertainment. These AI music hosts will “deepen your listening experience” by talking about relevant music stories, engaging in fan trivia, and even offering some AI commentary.
Since this first test is all about music, users will primarily engage with the YouTube Music app for the time being. The Labs explainer states that, while you’re listening to music in the app, the AI will “chime in” with these little talkshow-like moments. It kind of sounds like Spotify’s AI DJ, but just taken a little further with more to offer in those in-between moments.
Taking AI seriously
There’s no hiding that YouTube’s been on its AI kick for a while now, as last year, during some early “jump ahead” tests, we saw it experiment with taking Premium subscribers to the “best parts” of a video. However, tests back in 2023 brought the first glimpse of its “Ask about video” feature, which has since rolled out in full.
Elsewhere, a test from early this past summer brought YouTube’s take on Google’s AI Overviews. Premium users in the test were able to see brief overviews when searching for videos. Categorized as a “Highlight,” users would find AI-generated titles, descriptions, and clips when searching for something they were curious about. Highlights appeared when looking up the best locations in a given country or state, as well as when users were inquiring about a product.
These overviews were scrollable (the row of videos), and users could tap the main video in the center to go directly there and finish watching.
