The Pulse
YouTube Outlines New Creator Tools, Including Gemini-Powered Editing
YouTube announced tools for Studio, Shorts and YouTube Create, as well as new moderation and likeness-protection features.
AI.info Team ·
YouTube announced a new set of tools at its Made on YouTube event, covering video research and editing as well as community management and likeness protections. The company said the tools are intended to assist creators across the work involved in running a channel, from planning videos to managing comments.
YouTube Studio is adding new Insights and Research destinations on web and mobile. They are designed to help creators review how past videos performed and find outlier videos that could inspire future content. For creators with a draft, a new feedback feature can offer personalized advice on pacing, structure and storytelling.
The Studio announcement also includes two thumbnail features. Creators can generate thumbnails matched to their channel, or use dynamic thumbnails, which lets YouTube recommend the best of three options to different audience segments. YouTube said creators have run more than 40 million experiments with its A/B testing feature since it officially launched in 2024. A video A/B testing feature is planned that will let creators test up to three cuts to see which opening hook performs best. Ask Studio will also be able to review older videos in the background and suggest and test refreshed thumbnails.
YouTube also announced conversational editing for Shorts and the YouTube Create app. Earlier this year, the company brought Gemini Omni into both products; it said hundreds of thousands of channels used the feature per day in August 2026. YouTube connected that usage to its first GenAI trends report, which found that 72% of U.S. video posters ages 14 to 44 had used AI to help create or edit video in the previous year.
“We’re taking this momentum a step further by integrating Gemini into a new conversational editing assistant for both Shorts and the YouTube Create app.”
Aparna Pappu, VP, YouTube
The editing assistant can start a first draft from suggested prompts or a creator’s own prompt. Creators can then continue chatting with the tool for suggestions, including reordering frames, trimming clips and syncing music to the beat. YouTube said creators can switch between the assistant and manual timeline editing while making changes to a draft.
For community management, YouTube is testing opt-in, AI-powered comment moderation. The feature learns a channel’s moderation style and needs over time, according to the announcement, to help shape its comment section. The company also said billions of channels are eligible to sign up for automated deepfake detection and use its likeness-detection tool to control their visual likeness.
YouTube plans to begin integrating speaking-voice detection with facial detection later this year, with the stated aim of improving match accuracy and building broader voice protections over time. It also plans to make likeness detection available directly in the YouTube mobile app, where creators will be able to set it up, review results and take action.