What you need to know
- YouTube Shorts announced a “Reimagine” feature for its Remix selection of AI tools.
- Users can find a scene they like while watching a Short and “reimagine” it with a prompt and up to two reference materials from their gallery for an eight-second clip by Veo.
- YouTube’s 2026 outlook includes even more AI, but there’s a focus on ensuring real creators are the ones at the forefront.
YouTube’s Remix is getting a new addition this week that lets its AI-software take new heights with what users can create (or recreate).
This morning (Mar 18), YouTube announced in a blog post that it’s starting to roll out “Reimagine” for its Shorts. The service is revealing “reimagine,” a tool that leverages YouTube’s AI to “transform a single frame” in a Short. Reimagine is said to utilize Google’s Veo AI video generation model to get this done. When watching a Short, users can open their Remix tools and tap “Reimagine.”
After choosing your desired frame, users will need to decide how they want the AI to reimagine it. Gemini will have a few options for you, given the nature of the scene. However, you can write your own idea in the text box before proceeding to the next stage: your media. This is crucial, as users can plug a photo of themself into Reimagine.
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Using YouTube’s example, you can have the AI use a photo of you and make it seem like you’re the one skydiving in the scene. Or, maybe, you’re the one in the driver’s seat of a race car—who knows. Once completed, Veo will generate a quick eight-second clip of you in the scene about you, your pet, or whatever was described. YouTube adds that you can submit up to “two references” for Reimagine to use when offering up photos.
Users should note that, once your reimagined Short is done, the platform will automatically display a link that takes users to the original (from which you reimagined it). YouTube didn’t give an exact timeframe, though Reimagine should arrive on the platform soon.
AI continues in 2026 for YouTube
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AI tools aren’t slowing down on YouTube, especially for Shorts. Last year, the platform rolled out a couple of additions: Shorts Templates and Photo to Video. The former isn’t really new, as YouTube first debuted it in 2024. However, what it did was bring new support that lets creators upload photos from their phones to be used in a Short. Additionally, this QoL update was alongside an AI Sticker generator feature, too.
Shortly after, YouTube Shorts added “Photo to Video,” a feature that turns your static photos into animated clips. YouTube’s plans for 2026 were talked about earlier this year, and it seems the platform is interested in helping creators use AI this year. YouTube added that it wasn’t interested in more “AI slop,” as it will prioritize what people create over the low-quality, mass-produced AI alternative.
Android Central’s Take
In the grand scheme of the AI YouTube’s been bringing to Shorts, this seems to fit right in. Also, it’s a pretty straightforward tactic, too: find a scene you like (in a supported Short), decide how you want to “reimagine it,” add your media, and you’re good. All in all, it’s fine. It’s nothing groundbreaking, nor is it particularly creative. It’s AI generated, simple as that.
