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By now, it’s no surprise to see Google weaving AI into every product and feature possible. The latest to get the AI treatment is YouTube Search.
For searches related to shopping, travel, or things to do in a particular place, YouTube Premium subscribers will now see a video carousel in search results. “The carousel will highlight main topics and provide relevant video clips with useful insights,” YouTube says.
The curated carousel appears in the Highlights tab at the top of search results, similar to AI Overviews in Google Search. Each thumbnail will be linked to its own AI-generated headline and summary. You can view one overview at a time, and you can swipe through the thumbnails to view the descriptions of the other clips.
A video player at the top will automatically play carousel clips in order from left to right. To skip to a different clip, tap the corresponding thumbnail. To watch the full video, tap the video on the player. Once you get to the original video, the playback will begin from where you left off in the Highlights tab.
The feature is now available for YouTube Premium subscribers in the US, but YouTube warns it may not work for each shopping, travel, or things-to-do query.
YouTube is also expanding the test of its “conversational AI tool” to non-Premium users in the US. Introduced in 2023, the feature appears in the form of an “Ask” button beneath select videos. Once you tap that, you can start an interaction by tapping on the suggested prompts or asking your own questions related to the video.