Google is testing AI chatbot search for YouTube

Google is trying out an AI Mode-like search experience for YouTube. The company is now testing “a new way to search on YouTube that feels more like a conversation,” with results pulling in things like longform videos, YouTube Shorts, and text about what you’re searching for. The “experiment” is now available if you’re a YouTube Premium subscriber in the US who is 18 or older.

Google is testing AI chatbot search for YouTube

‘Ask YouTube’ is a new way to search that generates an AI Mode-like page of information.

I turned it on for my account. Now, in the search bar, I see an “Ask YouTube” button, and clicking the search bar shows prompts to ask like “funny baby elephant playing clips,” “summary of the rules of volleyball,” and “short history of the Apollo 11 moon landing.” If I keep the search box blank but click the Ask YouTube button, YouTube takes me to a full page with suggested searches and a text box to ask a question.

When you search with Ask YouTube, YouTube briefly shows a mostly-blank page with a loading icon, and after a few seconds, fills it out with text and details. I tested it with the “short history of the Apollo 11 moon landing” prompt. At the top of the results was a bunch of text summarizing the mission, including a bulleted list of milestones like the date of the lunar landing and Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon. Then, the page included a video about the launch timestamped to a section about the launch day from a channel called “The Life Guide,” followed by galleries of videos under headers like “From Launch to Splashdown,” “Historic Footage and Behind-the-Scenes,” and a series of Shorts about “Moments on the Surface.”

At the end, the page has a few more suggested prompts, including “Who were the Apollo 11 astronauts” and “Apollo 11 conspiracy theories,” and a text box I can use to ask a follow-up question or start a new search. I clicked the “Who were the Apollo 11 astronauts” and got a new, slightly differently-formatted set of results. Searching for “Apollo 11 conspiracy theories” just showed a typical list of YouTube search results, however.

I threw Ask YouTube another test with Valve’s Steam Controller. It gave an overview and highlighted reviews, but I caught a factual flub: YouTube claimed the old Steam Controller had no joysticks, when it actually has one. It was a reminder that you need to do your due diligence to make sure AI results are accurate.

YouTube says it’s already “working on” expanding this experiment to users who don’t have Premium. It seems likely that “Ask YouTube” is something Google sees a big future for.