YouTube introduces conversational AI editing, custom feeds, and shopping tools at annual event

Conversational video editing and creation tools

YouTube presented a suite of AI-driven production tools at its annual Made on YouTube gathering at Pier 57 in New York City on Wednesday. The updates focus on automating editing tasks while retaining creator oversight. A newly developed conversational editing tool allows creators to assemble long-form and short-form footage through natural language instructions. Creators can direct the system to select optimal takes, insert music, apply transitions, remove speech pauses, and add text overlays. YouTuber Kelli Erdmann demonstrated the software by refining dance footage through dialogue prompts.

Overall, conversational editing turns the process of editing into a literal conversation with an infinitely patient helper. It's a collaborative partner that edits with you, not for you.

Conversational editing will arrive for YouTube Shorts and the YouTube Create application in early 2027.

Channel management and testing features

The platform expanded its YouTube Studio app with autonomous channel optimization tools. The Ask Studio feature, expanding to iOS and Android, provides feedback on unpublished drafts by evaluating pacing, structure, and audience comments. An automated background agent will monitor catalog videos, finding older clips that regain news relevance and suggesting updated titles or thumbnails. Creators have already conducted over 40 million title and thumbnail tests using existing A/B tools.

Under new testing capabilities, creators can upload three thumbnails for YouTube to distribute dynamically to specific audience segments. Channel owners can also test up to three video cuts with different introductory hooks for Shorts starting in 2027. If creators automate the process, the platform selects the highest-performing cut after seven days. Amjad Hanif, vice president of creator products, stated that the tool also helps channels assemble demographic pitches for prospective sponsors.

Viewer interaction and custom feeds

For viewers, YouTube introduced Custom Feeds, enabling users to create dedicated home tabs through text prompts. The prompt-generated feeds update continuously and will deploy across web, mobile, and television interfaces in late 2026. Comment sections will gain animated GIF support across standard videos and Shorts, while direct messaging group chats will roll out in the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Brazil, and select European nations. YouTube Music will place Ask Music at the top of the app for playlist generation alongside a weekly spoken podcast preview titled Your Podcast Lineup.

Conversational search is expanding through the Ask YouTube assistant, which recorded over 140 million users in June 2026, a 500% increase from December 2025.

Behind that growth is a custom Gemini model that maps the viewer's most complex questions to the exact second that the video provides the answer, turning a passive search into an instant, meaningful connection with the video and with the creator.

Shopping integration and live broadcasts

The conversational assistant will also operate as an interactive shopping tool, generating product comparison tables and answering viewer questions directly on watch pages. YouTube will expand AI product auto-tagging to support affiliate payouts and extend its Amazon affiliate program outside the United States. Live streaming updates include real-time auto-dubbing pilots scheduled for early next year to translate broadcasts across multiple languages. A new live showdown format will enable creators to co-host competitive sessions through automated matchmaking.

Co-hosts can kick off friendly head-to-head matchups, where viewers send chats, gifts, and Super Chats to push their creator's score forward on-screen in real time.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan stated that the platform supported over 500,000 full-time jobs and contributed $60 billion to the US economy in 2025.