Google is currently testing an AI Mode-like search experience on YouTube, providing a new conversational way to search for content. This experiment pulls in various formats, including longform videos, YouTube Shorts, and accompanying text summaries. Currently, this feature is available to YouTube Premium subscribers in the United States who are 18 or older.
Users can activate the feature by seeing an “Ask YouTube” button in the search bar, which also displays suggested prompts like “funny baby elephant playing clips” or “short history of the Apollo 11 moon landing.” Clicking the search bar without entering a query, or clicking the Ask YouTube button, takes the user to a full page displaying suggested searches and a text box for questions.
When a search is performed using Ask YouTube, YouTube briefly displays a mostly-blank page with a loading icon before filling it out with detailed text and multimedia elements. For instance, testing the query “short history of the Apollo 11 moon landing” resulted in a top section of text summarizing the mission, featuring a bulleted list of milestones such as the date of the lunar landing and Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon. The page then included a specific video about the launch, followed by video galleries grouped under headers like “From Launch to Splashdown” and “Historic Footage and Behind-the-Scenes.” It also featured a series of Shorts labeled “Moments on the Surface.”
Following this detailed result, the page offered more suggested prompts, including “Who were the Apollo 11 astronauts” and “Apollo 11 conspiracy theories,” along with a text box for follow-up questions. Further investigation using the prompt “Who were the Apollo 11 astronauts” provided a new, slightly differently-formatted result, including a grid with background information on Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
Another test involving Valve’s Steam Controller resulted in an overview of the device, pointing to Valve’s new video and highlighting both longform reviews and a “Quick Hands-On Reviews” section that included Shorts. The report noted a factual inaccuracy, where YouTube claimed the old, discontinued Steam Controller had no joysticks, despite the source text confirming it does have one.
The implementation serves as a reminder that users must perform due diligence regarding the accuracy of these AI-generated search result pages. YouTube has stated that the company is “working on” expanding this experiment to non-Premium users, suggesting Google views “Ask YouTube” as a feature with significant future potential, mirroring its development of AI Mode in other Google products.