Too long, didn't watch? YouTube's AI chatbot will answer your questions about the video

(Image credit: Shutterstock / JRdes)

Have a question about a YouTube video you didn't understand or just didn't want to sit through? You can ask the AI chatbot rolling out from the video platform to answer all those questions, at least if you're a Premium subscriber on an Android device. The AI, likely fueled by Google's Gemini AI models, can summarize and expand upon any aspect of the video on your screen, like a friend who just memorized every video on the platform.

The chatbot incorporates AI into your viewing on the YouTube app through a card in the comments section. You can swipe through them to find the Ask card, opening up a place for texting with the chatbot. There, you can ask for a summary or engage in a conversation about the video. YouTube envisions people asking the AI to explain what the video is about, clarify any details, and recommend more videos. Theoretically, it could help video creators who would otherwise have to moderate the comment section for people asking questions or looking for more information.

Learn about the conversational AI tool on YouTube! - YouTube

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The chatbot fits right into both YouTube and Google's overall strategy to make Gemini-powered AI tools ubiquitous in your life, especially on your smartphone. YouTube has released or is working on releasing features like AI-powered chatbots mimicking famous people and fictional characters and a tool to help you skip to the most popular part of a video.

That's on top of the avalanche of creator AI features like an AI music generator, which ties together with one that can remove copyrighted music from your video without taking it down completely. You can even ask an AI chatbot for inspiration for your next video and use the upcoming Dream Screen AI to create backgrounds for the video. At the rate Google is moving, AI will become as central to making and watching videos on YouTube as the standard plea to like and subscribe heard at the end of 99% of videos on the platform.

Eric Hal Schwartz is a freelance writer for TechRadar with more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of the world and technology. For the last five years, he served as head writer for Voicebot.ai and was on the leading edge of reporting on generative AI and large language models. He's since become an expert on the products of generative AI models, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google Gemini, and every other synthetic media tool. His experience runs the gamut of media, including print, digital, broadcast, and live events. Now, he's continuing to tell the stories people want and need to hear about the rapidly evolving AI space and its impact on their lives. Eric is based in New York City.