Nearly a year has passed since AI Overviews debuted in search, and they still haven’t gained much popularity. Google’s strategy to change this? Increase their visibility so users have little choice but to accept them. The latest development? AI Overviews are headed to YouTube.
AI Overviews Are Coming to YouTube
As reported by Search Engine Land and a post on YouTube’s Help forum, YouTube is currently testing AI Overviews. When you enter a search query, this new feature will utilize AI technology to find videos that match your search and display the most relevant clips in a new “video results” carousel.
The announcement specifies that this feature will only show up “after entering certain search queries,” suggesting it won’t be available for every search. It particularly emphasizes that AI Overviews will likely be activated for queries related to product information, such as “best noise-canceling headphones,” or travel inquiries concerning specific locations or activities.
YouTube states that AI Overviews aim to provide “another way to discover content” and help users explore topics relevant to their search. Although this differs from the text summaries presented by AI Overviews in Search, it’s still an interesting approach.
Viewers on YouTube typically prefer watching videos over reading lengthy text, so this new feature could meet that preference. This isn’t YouTube’s first foray into AI, either; a few months back, they introduced a conversational AI tool allowing YouTube Premium members in the U.S. to ask questions about videos they were watching or get video recommendations.
Personally, I’m still not sold on AI Overviews since their launch nearly a year ago. Often, they provide inaccurate or irrelevant information, which undermines the effort creators and sites put into providing quality content. I suspect similar issues may arise with YouTube’s AI Overviews, but only time will tell how this unfolds.
Currently, YouTube’s AI Overviews are being rolled out to a limited number of YouTube Premium members in the U.S. and will only be visible for select English search queries. Unfortunately, like the Search AI Overviews, there may be no direct option for users to disable this feature, potentially leading them to seek workarounds.
Related
Here’s How I Turned Off Google’s AI Overviews and Reclaimed Regular Search
Done with Google’s AI overviews? You can turn them off in just a few steps.
While it’s still uncertain whether AI Overviews for YouTube will be rolled out on a larger scale, we can expect more details during Google’s upcoming annual event, set for May 20-21, 2025, at Google I/O.
