YouTube is testing out a new AI-powered feature that allows users to skip to the “best parts” of a video.
The feature — which is called “jump ahead” — will use AI technology to jump to the best parts of a YouTube video.
It is currently being tested and is only available to select YouTube Premium users in the U.S.
The jump ahead feature uses an AI-powered recommendation system that will analyze a user’s watch behavior data and then predict and jump to the parts viewers would want to see. When a YouTube user double-taps the screen to skip ahead, a new button on eligible videos will jump forward to the AI-predicted spot in the timeline.
According to 9to5Google, most users who use YouTube on Android or iOS are familiar with the double-tap to skip tool. Tapping twice in succession moves a viewer ahead 10 seconds. Every additional quick tap skips even more time until the user stops tapping when they think they are at the time point that they want to be watching the video.
9to5Google reports that YouTube’s experimental jump ahead feature is similar to the 10-second skip trick, except that it analyzes user watch data and uses machine learning to automatically pick points of interest in a video. Depending on where the viewer is on the jump ahead feature, they will end up skipping to the next best point of interest.
YouTube channel Creator Insider — which shares information from the YouTube Creator technical team with the wider Creator community — gave more details on the AI-powered feature.
“The way it works is, if a viewer is double tapping to skip ahead on an eligible segment, we’ll show a jump ahead button that will take them to the next point in the video that we think they’re aiming for,” Creator Insider explains in a new video.
“This feature will also be available to creators while watching their own videos.”
There are currently no details on whether this this will become a regular feature after testing with select Premium users in the U.S., or whether the tool will become available for non-Premium users on the platform. YouTube have also not specified what will make a video eligible for the jump ahead feature.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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