YouTube Starts Rolling Out New AI Tools for Shorts Creators

Google has started rolling out new generative AI tools for YouTube Shorts creators, including more generative effects and a new AI playground. The new generative AI features will be available first for creators in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and the rollout will occur over the next few weeks.

Here’s what to expect from the new AI tools:

Photo to video tool: Shorts creators will be able to transform a static photo into a dynamic video using a picture from their gallery and a text prompt. The feature is currently powered by Google’s Veo 2 image-to-video model, but it will soon be upgraded with the company’s latest Veo 3 model that can generate videos with sound.

More generative effects: The new effects powered by Google’s Veo 2 model can transform selfies into videos, static doodles into animations, and more.

AI playground: This new feature provides access to YouTube’s latest AI creation tools, inspirational content, and prompt examples to help users create Shorts videos with AI.

These new generative AI features for Shorts videos may help YouTube to attract content creators currently focused on growing an audience on Instagram and TikTok. The upcoming availability of Google’s Veo 3 model in YouTube Shorts will also allow users to create videos with sound, including dialogues, for free. The company’s latest video generation model became available for all Google AI Pro subscribers earlier this month, and it was previously restricted to the $249.99/month Google AI Ultra plan.