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At Google’s Made on YouTube event on Monday, the product roadmap was clear: AI, AI, and more AI.
YouTube creators can now use generative AI to come up with ideas for upcoming videos, add background images and AI-generated video clips to their short videos, automatically dub videos into new languages, and provide relevant replies to user comments. The company has integrated Google DeepMind technology to power some of its features, such as its video generation tool Veo.
During the event, YouTube asked creators to share how they’ve used the tool so far. In one example, singer-songwriter D4vd showed how he used AI to create visuals for a YouTube Short featuring his song “Here With Me.” In another, fashion creator Joe Ando used YouTube’s image generator to create a fantasy version of a dress for his Short.
But as AI tools become more integrated into YouTube, the question arises: Will AI content eventually overtake human content on the app, and is YouTube worried about that?
Johanna Vorich, YouTube’s chief product officer, said the company’s product plans are aimed at helping creators work more efficiently while pioneering new ways to create content.
“Creators are at the heart of what we do and our mission is to give creators a voice, so I don’t see them going away anytime soon,” Vorich told Business Insider. “The reason we’re focusing on AI is to amplify the voice of creators.”
The company works closely with rights holders to ensure its AI-generated tech doesn’t infringe on copyrights or impede the creative community, and it’s also transparent about where AI appears in videos, adding labels and watermarks to let users (and AI detectors) know that content was created with AI.
That said, Vorich said the company isn’t opposed to AI content being spread across its platforms.
“At YouTube, we try hard not to dictate what gets put on our platform,” she said. “We follow our community guidelines very strictly. So if you’re creating content that’s harmful or hateful, it’s not allowed on our platform. But we really do want people to create stuff that they want to watch, and I think it’s really hard to determine what that is. So we see ourselves as an open platform that allows a variety of different types of content.”
This year, members of the creator community have reacted both positively and negatively to generative AI. Some influencers, such as MrBeast and Dude Perfect, have experimented with AI tools as a way to work more efficiently. Other creators, however, are less enthusiastic about the technology. With a wave of auto-generated videos dominating their social media feeds, they worry that AI-generated content will one day eat into their revenue.
Ultimately, whether creators love AI or hate it, they don’t have much of a choice — the technology is already there, and we’re working closely with our partners to make AI feel helpful, not scary.
“YouTube puts our partners first,” Vorich said, describing a group that includes musical artists, video creators and other creatives. “We think about creators, big and small, and how we can use AI and other tools to support them throughout the entire creative lifecycle, from coming up with an idea to creating content to building a real audience and building a business.”