The role that artificial intelligence increasingly plays in our lives is a hot topic, and that’s particularly the case for Big Tech companies like Google. Its YouTube video site, for instance, has quietly began using AI to auto-generate summaries for a limited number of videos.
The company disclosed the experiment in a YouTube support page first spotted by Android Police.
It’s the latest way companies are utilizing AI in a way that offers a benefit to people. But those positives are countered by lingering concern that the technology, which exploded in popularity and capability this year, will produce unintended harms or eliminate some human jobs.
YouTube was quick to address that concern in the support page.
“While we hope these summaries are helpful and give you a quick overview of what a video is about, they do not replace video descriptions (which are written by creators!),” the company said.
The summaries may appear on watch and search pages, the company said.
They started rolling out on Monday. But given the limited nature of the service and the vast amount of videos on YouTube, you may not necessarily encounter them.
Google has hit the gas on its development of AI, introducing Bard, which is a ChatGPT-like AI system that answers your questions and generates sophisticated responses.