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Google AI Youtube

YouTube Uses AI To Summarize Videos in Latest Test (theverge.com) 17

Google is experimenting with the use of AI to auto-generate YouTube video summaries, according to a notice on a support page dated July 31st. From a report: The page, which we spotted via Android Police, notes that these summaries will only appear next to a limited number of English-language videos, and will only be viewable by a limited number of users. They'll appear on YouTube's watch and search pages, and are intended to give a brief overview of a video's contents without replacing its existing description written by a human. "We're starting to test AI auto-generated summaries on YouTube, so that it's easier for you to read a quick summary about a video and decide whether it's the right fit for you," the support page reads. Further reading: Forget Subtitles. YouTube Now Dubs (Some) Videos with AI-Generated Voices.
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YouTube Uses AI To Summarize Videos in Latest Test

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  • by jm007 ( 746228 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @10:48AM (#63731488)

    couldn't find any mention in the article.... what is your recourse if a summary mis-characterizes your content? if past history is any indication, you'll have to choose between head-butting a virtual brick wall or pounding sand

    what if they label your cat video as hairy pussy stroking? kinda funny, sure, but might horrify grandma and you lose your audience

    now imagine political and social content being 'summarized' by our AI overlords: more divisiveness -> more engagement -> more money to be made

    propaganda 101: control definitions and labels and you have the power to control minds and thoughts

    that's how it works, folks; try not to get played

    • The opposite is far more likely. Just like SEO gamed the search algorithm, crappy video producers will game the AI to be more "trending" and get more eyeballs.

    • This was my first thought. So many people today are easily triggered by certain subjects that I find myself choosing my words carefully to avoid being misunderstood or mischaracterized, and yet it still often happens anyway. If humans are terrible about understanding carefully-worded viewpoints, I can only imagine how bad the current generation of AI will be at accurately summarizing those viewpoints.
      • Yes, people are generally bad at reading comprehension... But my social media experience is that they skim, pick out the part that most offends them, and then rage-reply without any interest in the context of your statement.

        You will never phrase an idea carefully enough for those people, they only care if you wrote exactly what they want to read or not, and to harass you and others into giving up on future posting on their pet subject.

  • by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @11:00AM (#63731518)

    An awful lot of YouTube content is a few sentences and maybe a diagram stretched out into a 15 minute presentation to maximise monetisation.

    Give me a searchable text summary and I'll never watch the stupid video I didn't need or want in the first place.

    • by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @11:42AM (#63731638)

      An awful lot of YouTube content is a few sentences and maybe a diagram stretched out into a 15 minute presentation to maximise monetisation.

      Give me a searchable text summary and I'll never watch the stupid video I didn't need or want in the first place.

      Amen.

      I can't tell you the number of times I look something up that seems like it should have a simple, one paragraph or less answer, and all the top results now are some fifteen to twenty minute video. And if you're dumb enough to click, you literally get twenty minutes of, "what is $question, how is $question, why is $question, who is $question, history of $question, my kids love $question, my husband bakes with $question, my mom used to talk about $question," which is literally just silly bullshit SEO nonsense being turned into a person babbling SEO nonsense in front of a camera. Sometimes a simple answer is all we need.

      Don't even get me started on supposed recipe sites doing the same thing now.

      We managed to turn the information super highway into a sewer in the name of profit. How utterly human of us.

    • I totally agree with you, I hate it when I need a short and straight to the point answer and all I can find are 20 minute videos that don't even answer my question properly, they're just trying to get views and money. It's really frustrating, that's why I don't watch YouTube anymore
  • This already exists (Score:2, Informative)

    by djembe2k ( 604598 )
    This has existed for a while at https://skipit.ai/ [skipit.ai]
    • by Junta ( 36770 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @11:38AM (#63731622)

      Tried that on a random video, and not only did it fail to even mention anything of the actual content of the video, the supposed "main takeaway" wasn't even in the video at all. The "10 point summary" was basically the incorrect "main takeaway" phrased 10 different ways.

      I tried a second video and at least it was relevant, but still didn't seem to summarize the specific video, but apply a fairly generic summation that failed to capture the content of the video at hand. The description applied does accurately describe the channel, but not that specific video.

      • by narcc ( 412956 )

        That's because summarizing content is not something that you should expect an AI to be able to do at all, let alone do well. It just doesn't work that way. Anyone who claims otherwise is either delusional or in on the scam.

        Just for fun, try having one of these models summarize a few things that don't exist. It's illuminating.

  • by Junta ( 36770 ) on Tuesday August 01, 2023 @11:30AM (#63731596)

    "Meanders around pointlessly to pad out apparent content with hollow runtime, brings up some random sponsor, never actually addresses the point in the title/thumbnail"

  • Here [youtube.com] is a trailer for The Shining which I believes underscores the problem with having a computer interpret a video.
  • Geberative AI makes stuff up. I want to know what I'll be watching, which requires a human-written description.
  • Most idiots on YT have no clue wtf they are doing, so do it for them. Can't be any worse than now. lol....

  • Nooooooo... if AI writes the video description automatically, where will the sponsors put all their ads?

    What's next, AI automatically writing pinned comments? Think of all that lost valuable ad space!

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