AI Tools

YouTube’s new leader teases AI tools for content creators that can virtually swap outfits in videos. It can create “fantastical film settings”.

YouTube’s new CEO, Neal Mohan, outlined his key priorities and promised some future features for the media platform. Mohan begins his letter by stating that he will “continue to put first,” and then goes on to list some of the platform’s most recent features. He teased AI tools for content creators.

“Creators will be able to expand their storytelling and raise their production value, from virtually swapping outfits to creating a fantastical film setting through Generative AI,” said Mohan in a letter published today. “We’re taking the time to develop these features with thoughtful guardrails.” YouTube did not provide specifics on how these AI tools will function, but Mohan says they will be available to creators “in the coming months,” along with unspecified safeguards to ensure the technology is used responsibly. This is most likely referring to measures to combat the spread of deepfakes and disinformation.

Mohan also promised a significant expansion of YouTube Shorts. Later this year, YouTube will launch a creative feature that will allow users to record shorts alongside an existing YouTube video or Short in a side-by-side layout, similar to TikTok’s duet feature. Since its debut in 2018, the latter has become one of the platform’s most recognizable formats, so much so that Instagram released its own Reels variant, dubbed Reels Remix, in 2021. YouTube hasn’t revealed any specifics about how these generative AI tools will work, but Mohan says we can expect them to be available to creators “in the coming months,” along with unspecified safeguards to ensure the technology is used responsibly. Following the meteoric rise in popularity and accessibility of generative AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E, many have questioned the technology’s ethics and legality, with some claiming that the datasets used to train such models may infringe on copyright protections. “AI provides incredible creative opportunities, but it must be balanced by responsible stewardship,” Mohan said.