Google just hosted its fourth annual ‘Made on YouTube‘ event, and despite the company’s obvious reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) to drive the platform to new, and arguably unnecessary heights, it’s also bringing some welcome changes that will not only make the platform better for viewers but also for creators.
As though hoping to prove that YouTube is still a viable career option in 2025, the company revealed that it’s handed out over $100 billion to “creators, artists, and media companies globally over the last four years.” And it’s hoping the addition of new AI tools and upgrades to livestreaming will continue to grow that figure.
Livening up YouTube
YouTube might have creator-led on-demand content down pat, but it’s on a warpath to become a real thorn in Twitch’s side by improving the livestreaming experience. To help newbies get started with their livestreaming journey, YouTube will allow creators to practice before going live — to ensure everything looks and sounds the way it should before putting it in front of real eyeballs.
And if you aren’t sure what to do once live (something you should’ve thought about before hitting the ‘go live’ button), YouTube has introduced ‘Playables on Live’, which allows creators to play the streamer’s library of games while live. Playables, however, still haven’t reached South Africa, so you might want to rethink that strategy.
For those who want to begin their livestreaming but don’t have a computer, that’s okay. YouTube now allows users to go live from their mobile device — in a vertical format if they wish — and even adds the ability to react to other live events or creators. Creators can even stream both vertically and horizontally simultaneously, though with a unified ‘chat experience’ to keep the community together.
One major change that might help YouTube tackle Twitch are new side-by-side ads, which will display an ad right next to the livestream itself, to make sure you never miss a moment. Some creators are currently reluctant to display on their livestreams to keep users engaged, often at the expense of their own revenue streams. After the change, don’t be surprised to see more creators take advantage and display more ads than before.
Finally, rather than sifting through a rather dry livestream looking for content to turn into a Short, YouTube is introducing ‘AI-powered highlights’ that’ll just… do it for you. “It finds the most compelling moments from the livestream and automatically creates ready-to-share Shorts,” the company wrote.
Put your hands together for even more AI
By YouTube’s own description, it’s adding new tools to the platform that’ll make it easier than ever to “create” content, without ever expending much effort. One of those is the addition of a custom version of Google DeepMind’s video generation model, known as Veo 3 Fast, to YouTube Shorts. It’s about as lame as it sounds.
Rolling out first in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, users can create Shorts without providing any content in the first place. It’ll generate entire videos (in 480p) and even the accompanying audio, all from a bunch of text that may itself have been generated by some LLM out there.
Or, you can hand YouTube a still image and ask it to add motion, or even just objects into the background. YouTube’s example shows an image of a woman standing still, before suddenly turning into a karate master at the tap of a button. We’re not sure who this content is for, but that isn’t stopping YouTube from developing the tools.
If you’re worried you won’t be able to tell the onslaught of AI-generated content apart from the real thing, don’t. Google’s tech is still a long way from being indistinguishable from real life. But for the parents out there that need a reminder, Google has retained the SynthID watermarks and content labels to help them stay on top of things.
