YouTube to let creators use 'AI digital twins' to produce Shorts

YouTube plans to allow creators to publish Shorts using AI-generated versions of their own likeness, according to announcements made by chief executive Neal Mohan in his annual letter released on Wednesday.

Neal Mohan said artificial intelligence would remain a tool for creative expression rather than a replacement for creators, as the company outlined its intention to enable creators to generate content featuring realistic digital versions of themselves. YouTube has not provided a timeline for the launch of the feature or detailed how it will function, but the approach is expected to resemble systems such as OpenAI’s Sora, which allows users to create photorealistic avatars by recording a short selfie video and audio clip to generate a 3D representation that can be used in AI-generated content.

Mohan stated that YouTube already clearly labels content created using its AI tools and informed that creators will be required to disclose when they publish realistic altered or synthetic content. He added that the company plans to introduce new tools to help creators manage and control the use of their likeness in AI-generated material.

Addressing concerns around the rise of so-called AI slop, Mohan said YouTube has historically avoided imposing rigid assumptions on its creator ecosystem, but informed that the platform also carries a responsibility to maintain a high-quality viewing experience. He said the company is building on existing systems designed to combat spam and clickbait in order to reduce the spread of low-quality, repetitive AI-generated content.

Mohan stated that YouTube Shorts are now averaging around 200 billion views per day and announced several additional features planned for the format. These include the ability to add image-based posts directly into the Shorts feed, as well as new parental controls that will allow parents to limit how much time children and teenagers spend scrolling Shorts, including the option to set the viewing timer to zero.

He also informed that YouTube is developing a new AI feature that will allow users to create games using simple text prompts. The platform already offers a range of AI-powered tools for creators, including the Edit with AI feature within the YouTube Create app, AI-enabled auto-dubbing in more than 20 languages, and Dream Screen, which enables AI-generated video and image backgrounds for Shorts.