Summary
- YouTube is integrating Google Lens into Shorts, allowing users to search elements within short-form videos.
- The integration feels unnecessary, especially since existing tools like Circle to Search and Gemini’s “Ask about this screen” already offer similar functionality.
- This integration adds to the growing number of features in Shorts and follows a recent unpopular update prioritizing Shorts on the YouTube TV app, potentially cluttering the user experience.
Google’s integrating one of its most beneficial tools into one of its most criticized ones. Any guesses?
The tech giant announced a new beta experiment today that will see Google Lens make its way to YouTube Shorts, giving users an additional (and unnecessary) way to learn about elements they see within Shorts.
The upcoming functionality can already be achieved by two other tools that aren’t directly integrated into YouTube, and that’s precisely why I think the new experiment is unnecessary. The already-available tools include Circle to Search and Gemini’s ‘Ask about this screen,’ both of which allow users to search and probe for on-screen context, making the dedicated Google Lens integration feel like a redundant addition.
But alas, here we are, ready for the Shorts experience to gain an additional source of potential clutter, with the only saving grace being the fact that this looks like a beta experiment that could be reversed.
Lens will show up only when you pause a Short
The beta feature is expected to begin rolling out this week to Android and iOS users, and it will reportedly show up as ‘Lens‘ in the top menu when you pause a YouTube Short. This is the same top menu where other chips like Subscriptions, Live, Trends, Shopping, and more are located. The streaming giant also clarified that during the feture’s initial pilot, the Lens chip will not show up on Shorts that have YouTube Shopping affiliate tags.
You will see a message about terms and conditions pop up the first time that you use the feature. Tap X or anywhere else on the video to dismiss the message.
This comes soon after YouTube rolled out a significant update to its TV app that pushes the Shorts feed to the top of users’ subscriptions page. Rightfully so, users aren’t very happy with the change, especially considering that it occupies almost half of the subscriptions page’s top section, leaving long-form videos partially obscured and pushed further down the screen.
