Late last week, YouTube unveiled a suite of AI-powered tools for video creators at an annual event that is aptly named “Made On YouTube.”

The announcements include:

• AI Insights: Next year, YouTube Studio will tap generative AI to spark video ideas and draft outlines to help creators brainstorm.
• Dream Screen: Later this year, YouTube will begin testing a new way to create AI-generated video or image backgrounds for Shorts.
• YouTube Create: Currently in beta on Android in select markets, this free app offers several new video editing and production tools.

Even though creators can’t get their hands on some of these new apps and features for months, YouTube has laid out a product roadmap that shows how AI can help them “to push the bounds of creative expression…by making the difficult things simple, and the impossible dreams possible,” said Toni Reid, YouTube’s Vice President of Emerging Experiences and Community Products.

This product roadmap should also help YouTube to fend off competitors like TikTok and Instagram in the ongoing battle for creative talent, which is the key to attracting, engaging, and retaining billions of monthly active users worldwide.

YouTube also updated everyone from creators to advertisers to the press that its lead in viewers is now deeper and wider by announcing that YouTube Shorts is now averaging more than 70 billion daily views from over 2 billion signed-in users every month.

And apparently, the leading social video platform didn’t think that it was necessary to remind attendees of this year’s Made On YouTube event what Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s Vice President of Creator Products, had said at last year’s Made On YouTube event:

“Over the past three years, we’ve paid creators, artists and media companies over $50 billion.”

So, if you were a creative entrepreneur – even one with a presence on multiple social video platforms – which one would you focus on to build a successful business of your own with employees and full-fledged operations?

Who knows – the latest announcements at Made On YouTube may tip the balance in that calculation.

Image from Made on YouTube, September 2023

So, let’s take a closer look at YouTube’s suite of new products and features – not in the order in which they were presented nor in the order in which they will become available, but in the order in which creative entrepreneurs will use them to make videos worth watching and create content worth sharing.

Getting Inspired With AI Insights

According to Reid, “AI can give creators more efficient tools to help them come up with new ideas and reach new audiences.”

This is the premise behind a trio of AI-powered tools:

• AI Insights: Sometime next year, YouTube Studio will be able to tap generative AI to spark video ideas, and draft outlines to help video creators brainstorm what content they could create next. Reid said at this year’s Made On YouTube, “The insights will be personalized for each channel and based on what audiences are already watching on YouTube. We’ve been testing a version of AI-powered tools in YouTube Studio with creators, and more than 70% of those surveyed said it’s helped them develop and test ideas for videos.”
• Assistive Search in Creator Music: Sometime next year, creators will be able to find a soundtrack for their video with assistive search in Creator Music. This will enable creators to type in a description of their content, and AI will suggest the right music at the right price.
• Aloud: One of the ways that creators can expand their audiences is by dubbing their content into languages beyond their own. However, only a few creators have the resources to dub their content professionally. So, YouTube will bring Aloud, an AI-powered dubbing tool, into the video platform to help creators open up their content to the more of the world.

Creating AI-generated Backgrounds With Dream Screen

At this year’s Made On YouTube, Reid also announced Dream Screen, a new experimental feature that enables creators to make AI-generated video or image backgrounds for their Shorts “simply by typing an idea into a prompt.”

He added,

“Ever wish you were filming in outer space? Trekking through an enchanted forest? Dreamt that your pug drove you to school?

With Dream Screen, creators will be able to generate new, fantastic settings for their Shorts that are only limited by what they can imagine.”

YouTube will begin testing Dream Screen later this year with select creators before rolling out the feature more broadly next year.

Taking The Work Out Of Video Production With YouTube Create

Finally, Reid said,

“We know the production process for videos can be difficult and often prevents that first-time creator from uploading their first video.

To streamline this process and allow anyone to create and share videos right to YouTube, we’re launching a new mobile app called YouTube Create.”

The app is designed to make video production for Shorts or longer videos simpler and easier, so creators can spend more time and energy making videos worth watching and creating content worth sharing.

YouTube Create offers a variety of video editing tools, including precision editing and trimming, automatic captioning, and voiceover capabilities.

The app also provides access to a library of filters, effects, transitions, and royalty-free music “with beat matching technology.”

This should enable creators to produce their next YouTube video without relying on complex video editing software. And they should be able to do all this with their mobile phones.

YouTube Create is currently in beta on Android in select markets and will be free of charge.

Reid added,

“Creators have been an incredible source of insight and feedback as we built this early version of YouTube Create, and we’ll continue to work with the creator community as we add new features and capabilities over time.”

Evaluating YouTube’s Product Roadmap

So, will YouTube’s product roadmap enable creators of diverse backgrounds and levels of experience to “push the boundaries of creator innovation,” as the YouTube team put it on the video platform’s official blog?

The honest answer is: we’ll have to wait and see.

But here are some benchmarks to help us measure the company’s progress: According to Tubular Labs data, 759 million videos were uploaded to YouTube by 24.6 million accounts in the last 365 days.

And these videos got a total of 23.6 trillion (with a “t”) views and 745 billion (with a “b”) engagements (e.g., likes, comments, and shares).

But, based on my experience and expertise, I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that all these benchmarks will be eclipsed a year from now.

Why am I so confident?

I’m betting that YouTube developers haven’t lost their remarkable skills and competencies.

And YouTube is now doing a significantly better job of marketing its new AI-powered tools than it has done with previous products and features.

For example, I was surprised to see that the YouTube for Press section of its official blog had been updated with the latest announcements.

In the past, similar announcements were often buried in the YouTube Help Center.

Plus, YouTube went beyond sharing Reid’s comments in a post on its official blog. Late last week, the video platform also uploaded photos and recaps from the Made On YouTube event, including “Made on YouTube Recap.”

So, the competition from TikTok and Instagram seems to have prompted YouTube to up its game in marketing and product development.

And that’s good news for creators, as well as advertisers who want to reach potential customers where they’re watching videos and consuming content.

Disclaimer: All statistics not linked are from a gated Tubular Labs report.

More resources: 

Featured Image: issaro prakalung/Shutterstock