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YouTube wants more people to pay for its service and new features would help
YouTube continues to push more people to pay for its services and bringing new features with AI richness will appeal to many.
YouTube is working on a series of new features, including AI features for its Premium members. The company is exploring ways on how Premium subscribers can share the benefits with friends in the future. Currently, there are only a handful of YouTube Premium plans, including Individual plans for $13.99 per month (approximately Rs 1,000); Family plans for $22.99 (almost Rs 1,900) per month; and Student for $7.99 per month.
Recently, the tech giant has offered insights into the new feature for Premium subscribers in the community post and a separate blog post. Reports suggest that it has introduced an AI-powered “jump ahead” feature, picture-in-picture mode in YouTube Shorts and Experimental AI features. Here’s how these work —
YouTube Premium: Jump ahead
YouTube is now adding a new feature called “Jump Ahead” that will allow users to skip to the best parts of the video. The company said that this feature uses a combination of artificial intelligence and viewership data to identify which is the best and the most-viewed section of the video. When the user double-taps on the video player to skip ahead, they will see the Jump Ahead button which will take them directly to the selected section of the video.
The Jump ahead feature is launched to YouTube on Android for US users and will become available for iOS users in the region in the coming weeks. While the company hasn’t confirmed the availability of this feature in other regions, it is likely to expand to more markets in the upcoming months, including India.
Picture-in-picture for YouTube Shorts
YouTube is also adding a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) option similar to standard video content for YouTube Shorts. This new feature lets users watch YouTube Shorts in a minimised, floating window while browsing other apps. At present, the Picture-in-Picture is available only for YouTube users on the Android app.
Experimental AI features
The video streaming platform further said that it is giving premium subscribers early access to some of the new experimental features on the platform. In addition to that, subscribers can choose to opt in or out of these features anytime.
Furthermore, one of the experimental features currently available is the conversational YouTube AI. It is accessible on the YouTube Android app in the US. This AI assistant answers questions about the video, suggests related content and more while the video is playing. Premium subscribers in the US can access the AI chatbot by clicking on the “Ask” button beneath selected videos.
