YouTube announces AI-Enabled editing products for video creators

YouTube will roll out a slew of artificial-intelligence-powered features for creators, the latest effort from parent company Alphabet to incorporate generative AI technology that can create and synthesize text, images, music and other media given simple prompts into its most important products and services.

Among the new products YouTube announced Thursday is a tool called Dream Screen that uses generative AI to add video or image backgrounds to short-form videos, which the company calls Shorts. 

It also announced new AI-enabled production tools to help with editing both short- and long-form videos on its platform.

Google has been under pressure to show results and practical applications for its generative AI products. Some critics have been wary the company, which has long been seen as a leader in artificial intelligence, was falling behind upstarts like OpenAI or rival Microsoft, and that the products Google was rolling out weren't yet ready for public consumption. 

OpenAI's ChatGPT and a new Bing chatbot from Microsoft which has invested $13 billion (nearly Rs. 1,08,100 crore) in OpenAI since 2019 have been wildly popular and gained mainstream favour. 

The company also announced YouTube Create, a mobile app aimed at helping the platform's creators make video production work easier.

The app includes AI-enabled features like editing and trimming, automatic captioning, voiceover capabilities and access to a library of filters and royalty-free music.

The app is currently in beta on Android in “select markets,” the company said, and will be free of charge.

Beyond creation, YouTube said it would also provide creators with more tools to get AI-powered insights, help with automatic dubbing of videos and assist with finding music and soundtracks for videos.