YouTube unveils a slew of new AI-powered tools for creators

YouTube on Thursday unveiled a slew of new artificial intelligence-powered tools to help creators produce videos and reach a wider audience on the platform, as companies race to incorporate buzzy generative AI technology directly into their core products.

"We want to make it easier for everyone to feel like they can create, and we believe generative AI will make that possible," Neal Mohan, YouTube's CEO, told reporters Thursday during the company's annual Made On YouTube product event.

"AI will enable people to push the boundaries of creative expression by making the difficult things simple," Mohan added. He said YouTube is trying to bring "these powerful tools" to the masses.

The video platform, under the Alphabet-Google umbrella, teased a new generative AI feature dubbed Dream Screen specifically for its short-form video arm and TikTok competitor, YouTube Shorts. Dream Screen is an experimental feature that lets creators add AI-generated video or image backgrounds to their vertical videos.

To use Dream Screen, creators can type their idea for a background as a prompt and the platform will do the rest. A user, for example, could create a background that makes it look like they are in outer space or on a beach where the sand is made out of jelly beans, per demos of the tool shared on Thursday.

Dream Screen is being introduced to select creators and will be rolled out more broadly next year, the company said.

YouTube also unveiled new AI-powered tools that creators can access to help brainstorm or draft outlines for videos or search for specific music using descriptive phrases. YouTube said it was bringing an AI-powered dubbing tool that will let users share their videos in different languages.