Google is expanding its artificial intelligence integration to YouTube with the launch of “Ask YouTube,” a new experimental search feature. This tool allows users to pose complex questions and receive “comprehensive results that include video and text,” while also supporting follow-up queries for deeper exploration. The feature is currently available until June 8 for YouTube Premium subscribers in the U.S. who are 18 and older.
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To access the tool, eligible users must first enable it within their account settings. Once active, a new “Ask YouTube” button appears in the search bar, offering prompt suggestions or the ability to enter custom queries, such as “plan a 3-day road trip between San Francisco and Santa Barbara”. Users can further refine their search by choosing from suggested prompts or typing in more specific follow-up questions.
In practice, the feature aims to provide structured summaries of topics. For instance, searching for a “short history of Apollo 11 moon landing” generates a summary of the mission accompanied by relevant videos and specific timestamps for key information. However, the experience remains inconsistent; some queries return a standard list of videos, while others have produced factually inaccurate information.
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While tech companies remain aggressive in their AI rollouts, YouTube’s user base has often been critical of AI-generated content. The success of this new search function likely depends on whether it can consistently help subscribers locate high-quality content more efficiently than traditional search methods.
