Up for some more AI? YouTube is testing a new search engine that turns a search into a conversation

How does the new feature work?

In order to use it, users must first enable the feature in their account settings. After that, a new “Ask YouTube” button will appear in the search bar. Clicking on it will open a chat-style window with suggested questions, and users can enter their own complex questions, such as “plan a three-day car trip between San Francisco and Santa Barbara.” After receiving the initial results, they can ask additional questions or choose from the suggestions provided to explore the topic in more detail. Why anyone would plan a trip through YouTube remains unclear.

As a quick test by The Verge showed, the query “a brief history of the Apollo 11 moon landing” resulted in a summary of the mission, accompanied by relevant videos and timestamps for key information. Additional queries yielded similar results, although some queries still returned only the classic list of videos, as with the standard search. As is often the case with artificial intelligence, one of the searches, the one about the Steam Controller, gave artificially inaccurate information.

Part of a broader strategy for implementing AI

This move is not an isolated case, but part of a broader strategy by which YouTube wants to incorporate artificial intelligence, powered by Google’s Gemini models, throughout its platform. The company moreć has been introducing tools for content creators for some time, such as A/B testing titles and cover images and the “Inspiration” tab, which suggests video topics tailored to the audience of a particular channel. Although AI can help viewers get to information faster through summaries, some creators are concerned that it could cause users to skip watching entire videos.

Tech companies are far more enthusiastic about AI than the general public, and YouTubers are particularly vocal in their opposition to low-quality content generated by AI. The success of this feature will depend solely on whether it will really help users find quality content faster and easier. In the meantime, similar functions are being tested by other platforms such as Meta for Instagram and TikTok, which indicates a clear trend away from traditional search engines that offer a list of links to systems that provide a single, concise answer.