Google-owned YouTube made four big bets for 2025 earlier this year, and it has already started working on (and is even rolling out) initiatives that align with its goals.
For reference, two of its 2025 strategic goals were to enhance content discovery, and to continue investing in AI tools for an enhanced user experience. Now, with what YouTube just announced, it is essentially hitting two of those birds with one stone.
The streaming giant announced a new feature today, paired with an existing one that’s now expanding to more users.
Starting today, YouTube Premium users in the US will start to see a new AI-powered video search experience — one that’s limited to the platform’s mobile apps. The new search experience will highlight dynamic carousels with clips from videos that match your search query.
For example, if you search “best beaches in Hawaii,” you might see a dynamic carousel with clips that highlight the best snorkeling spots and volcanic beaches, “complete with descriptions and more videos to plan your ideal day.” Alternatively, searches like “Best noise-cancelling headphones” might highlight various segments from different famous tech reviewers on YouTube.
The streaming giant highlighted that the experience won’t show up for all your searches. They’re more likely to appear in searches related to “shopping, places, or things to do in a specific place.” If you want to try out the new feature, head to YouTube Labs and tap “Try it out” under AI-powered search results carousel.
Expanding ‘Ask’ access
Elsewhere, all the way back in November 2023, YouTube began testing a conversational AI tool that would let users get answers to questions about the video they’re watching, recommendations for related content, and more. The ‘Ask’ tool, as we know it now, has long been exclusive to YouTube Premium subscribers, but the paywall is coming down.
YouTube announced that “in the coming days,” the conversational AI tool will be expanding to “some non-Premium users” in the US. The phrasing makes it sound like the conversational AI tool won’t be expanding widely among non-Premium users just yet, with a broader rollout to likely come further down the line.
