YouTube targets creators and consumers in broad generative AI push

YOUTUBE rolled out a slew of generative artificial intelligence (AI) products aimed at a broad audience, an effort from the video platform to show its massive investments in AI are bearing fruit.

- 

The features, announced Tuesday, go well beyond the standard AI editing tools YouTube and its social media rivals have introduced in recent years. Many of the latest tools are tailored specifically to creators and shortform segments known as YouTube Shorts, a sign that YouTube is taking ever-bigger swings to compete with ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Instagram owner Meta Platforms, Inc.

Several of its new offerings are powered by Veo 3 Fast, a Google DeepMind model that can in seconds generate realistic video and audio, including dialogue and sound effects, from a simple text prompt on a phone.

“Twenty years ago, YouTube launched with the idea that everyone should have the opportunity to create and find a global stage,” Johanna Voolich, YouTube's chief product officer, said in a blog post on Tuesday timed to the company’s Made on YouTube event in New York. “Since then, we've seen creators shape culture and entertainment in ways we never thought possible.” Ms. Voolich added that YouTube has now paid out more than $100 billion to creators globally over the last four years.