YouTube is testing auto-generated summaries for videos on its platform, it has confirmed in a thread on its community page. According to the update shared by YouTube, these summaries aim to make it easier for users to decide whether they want to watch a video or not. Initially, the summaries will be available on the search and watch pages.
The feature is currently being tested with a limited number of viewers and is available only for English-language videos. The company clarified that the AI-generated summaries do not replace the video descriptions, which are typically written by the creators themselves. However, many creators have also been using AI tools to generate descriptions or captions for their videos and posts on various social media platforms.
The update doesn’t feature any screenshots of the new feature in action, and there’s nothing on Twitter either (at least, we couldn’t find any) so we’ll probably have to wait to see what it actually looks like. A Google spokesperson Jen Jamie told The Verge that the users may see the auto-generated summaries when viewing English-language vlogs, shopping, and how-to videos on mobile devices. So that’s the hack to maybe try and see it in action.
There are many AI tools, including Chrome extensions, available for summarizing YouTube videos and doing more with them, but opinions on their outcomes vary. Given that YouTube has now developed a product for this purpose within the platform, there are higher expectations from it. What would be interesting to see is how the auto-generated summaries work for longer videos.
