San Francisco Frontiers - YouTube ramps up AI tools for video makers

YouTube chief executive Neal Mohan touted AI as an "evolution" aimed at empowering creativity and storytelling at the video-sharing service founded in early 2005 by former PayPal employees Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim, and Steve Chen.

YouTube has become the world's most popular free online video service with billions of users since it was bought by Google in 2006.

"New AI-powered products will shape our next 20 years," Mohan said at an event in New York City.

But Mohan insisted that "these are tools, nothing more," and would not supersede the role of creators.

They "are designed to foster human creativity," he said.

In one example, Veo video generation AI from Google DeepMind labs is being integrated into YouTube, enabling capabilities such as easily creating backgrounds in "Shorts" posted to a feed that competes with TikTok and Instagram Reels.

"New capabilities powered by Veo allow you to apply motion, restyle videos, and add props to your scenes," YouTube chief product officer Johanna Voolich said in a blog post.

AI will also let creators turn raw footage into draft video content or convert dialogue into a song for soundtracks, Voolich added.

New AI tools will also let creators combine a photo with a video, essentially making it seem as though the person pictured is the one in action.

Podcasts are also a focus, with new tools letting producers use AI to create video versions of what started as just audio broadcasts.

Translation capabilities will also turn to AI not only to translate what is being said in videos but to make it appear as though the subject was actually speaking that language.

And in order to fight the proliferation of deepfakes online, YouTube promised that a "likeness detection tool" will soon be available in beta test format that will let creators detect AI-generated videos depicting their impersonators.

K.Torres--SFF