YouTube is experimenting with a new, conversational way to search that complements how you search today. Searching with Ask YouTube draws from real-time information from the web and YouTube content to answer complex questions and help you explore topics more deeply on YouTube.
Responses blend long-form videos, Shorts, and text. Responses can also include relevant clips from videos, accompanied by video title and channel details, to make it easy to jump into the most helpful content from your search. Within this search experience, you can also refine and follow-up on your initial question. For creators, this feature offers an additional path for viewers to discover your content.
Eligibility
- 18 years or older.
- The experiment is currently available to a limited number of US users searching in English on a computer.
- If you are a YouTube Premium member, you can opt-in at youtube.com/new.
How to search with Ask YouTube
- Go to YouTube on your desktop and click the Search bar.
- Click Ask YouTube
.
- Enter a question or prompt in natural language, such as "plan a 3-day roadtrip from San Francisco to Santa Barbara."
- Review your response.
- You can read text answers and watch video clips directly in the response. Videos will play on hover, starting at the timestamp most relevant to your question. Videos within the response show the creator's channel name and video title to help you choose what to watch in full.
- To dive deeper or adjust the responses, select one of the suggestions to refine your search, or type a new question in the Ask a follow-up field at the bottom of the response.
- When searching with Ask YouTube, always check important info in more than one place. Learn more about how to evaluate the info you find with Google.
- Ask multiple versions of your question to get the best answers. Try asking for different opinions or ask for more details.
- Generated responses are for informational purposes only. They do not reflect YouTube views. Quality and accuracy of the responses generated by AI may vary. Don’t rely on generated responses for medical, legal, financial, or other professional advice. Always consult with the professional for professional advice.
- Send feedback if something doesn’t look right. Your feedback helps us make improvements.
Because generative AI is experimental and a work in progress, it can and will make mistakes:
- It may make things up. When generative AI invents an answer, it's called a hallucination. While search with Ask YouTube does tap into real-time information from the web and YouTube's video library, it uses LLMs to synthesize this information into a response. Because LLMs are designed to predict which words come next based on patterns, they may occasionally invent facts or generate information that is not actually present in the source videos.
- For example, you might ask, “Who’s going to win women's gymnastics at the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics?" and get a response, even though the event hasn't happened yet.
- It may misunderstand things. Sometimes, generative AI products misinterpret language, which changes the meaning. Because search with Ask YouTube synthesizes video content, the system may occasionally miss specific nuances, and it can sometimes fail to recognize elements like sarcasm and irony.
- For example, you may want to learn more about bats, the animal that lives in caves. If you ask for information about bats, it might tell you about the bats used in baseball, cricket, and softball.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does searching with Ask YouTube take longer to load than standard search results?
Searching with Ask YouTube may take more time than keyword searches because generated responses analyze a variety of content types and sources, such as real-time information from the web and YouTube content, to build a comprehensive answer. We are actively working to improve the speed of responses.
What data is collected? How is it used?
When you use search with Ask YouTube, we will collect data around your use of the tool, including the queries and feedback you submit on responses you receive. This data helps us to provide, improve, and develop our products and services. Conversations connected with your Google Account will be deleted automatically after 45 days.
To help with quality and improve our products, human reviewers may read, give notes on, and process your conversations with this tool. We take steps to protect your privacy, including disconnecting your conversations from your Google Account before reviewers see them, and using automated tools to remove personal info like email addresses and phone numbers. Conversations that have been reviewed by human reviewers are kept separately for up to 3 years.
To submit feedback:
- Scroll to the bottom of the response.
- Select either the thumbs up or the thumbs down icon.
- Optionally provide more details about your experience.
To report a response for legal reasons:
- On a response, select the thumbs down.
- Select Report legal issues.
- Follow the prompts to report a legal issue.
The feedback is:
- Reviewed by specially trained teams. Human review is necessary to help identify, address, and report potential problems raised in feedback, including as required under applicable laws.
- Used consistent with our Privacy Policy. YouTube uses this data to provide, improve, and develop YouTube products, services, and machine-learning technologies, as explained in more detail in our Privacy Policy.
Can I adjust the style of the answers?
How are video clips selected?
Similar to the standard Search experience on YouTube, the ranking system for Ask YouTube search responses prioritizes relevance, engagement, and quality. The system identifies relevant video clips that directly answer your question to help you efficiently find specific information.