YouTube on Tuesday rolled out a slate of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools to boost its shortform video business and take on TikTok and Instagram.
The Google-owned platform said the new features, announced at its “Made on YouTube” event, will help creators generate backgrounds, special effects, and automatically edited Shorts. The launch underscores YouTube’s push into AI and social media-style content.
Company executives called the rollout a “fundamental shift” in video creation. YouTube also said it has paid $100 billion to creators since 2021.
“Today, we’re not just launching a new feature but unveiling a fundamental shift in what it means to create videos,” Vadim Lavrusik, group product manager at YouTube, said in a blog post.
YouTube said its latest update will use AI to automatically generate vertical highlight clips from live broadcasts, enabling creators to keep audiences engaged after streams end without manual editing. The tool is aimed at linking livestreams with shortform content, positioning Shorts as a key driver of discovery on the platform.
The company is also rolling out simultaneous streaming in horizontal and vertical formats with a single, unified chat. YouTube first enabled dual-format streaming in early 2024, but until now creators had to manage two separate chats.
Headlining the product trove is Veo, six-second AI-generated video clips built for Shorts. Powered by Google’s DeepMind technology, Veo creates clips from text prompts and was demonstrated by fashion designer Joe Ano, who used it to generate moving dress designs. Other demos included an AI video of a dog and sheep becoming friends.
The company also introduced an Inspiration tab, an AI hub to help creators develop video ideas, titles, thumbnails and outlines, drawing from user comments that cannot be opted out of. Additional features include Communities, a social hub for creators and fans; Hype, a tool that lets users promote rising creators’ videos; and auto-dubbing, which converts captions into speech in multiple languages while preserving tone and pitch.
Beyond AI, YouTube announced expanded monetization for livestreaming with “gifts” similar to TikTok and Twitch, and new options to organize videos into Seasons and Episodes as viewing on TV screens grows.
