Eli Collins, a vice president of product management at Google DeepMind, first demoed generative AI video tools for the company’s board of directors back in 2022. Despite the model’s slow speed, pricey cost to operate, and sometimes off-kilter outputs, he says it was an eye-opening moment for them to see fresh video clips generated from a random prompt.
Now, just a few years later, Google has announced plans for a tool inside of the YouTube app that will allow anyone to generate AI video clips, using the company’s Veo model, and directly post them as part of YouTube Shorts. “Looking forward to 2025, we’re going to let users create stand-alone video clips and shorts,” says Sarah Ali, a senior director of product management at YouTube. “They’re going to be able to generate six-second videos from an open text prompt.” Ali says the update could help creators hunting for footage to fill out a video or trying to envision something fantastical. She is adamant that the Veo AI tool is not meant to replace creativity, but augment it.
Did anyone stop to ask themselves if we even would want to watch AI videos?
Of course not.
I, and I suspect many other people, watch YouTube for the people in the videos and their experiences (or at least the illusion of that). Watching fake videos defeats the whole purpose.
YouAITube sounds like nothing more than a kaleidoscope with extra steps.
There’s a place for this, if it’s entertaining. Memes, comedy, maybe some more legitimate uses too. A lot of YouTube is some guy just sitting in front of a camera in the most boring perfectly curated home office. Throw in something visually interesting that enhances the subject matter and I may watch more.
