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ByAndrew Tarantola
YouTube content creators could soon be able to brainstorm video topic, title, and thumbnail ideas with Gemini AI as part of the “brainstorm with Gemini” experiment Google is currently testing, the company announced via its Creator Insider channel.
The feature is first being released to a small number of selected content creators for critique, as a spokesperson from the company told TechCrunch, before the company decides whether to roll it out to all users. “We’re collecting feedback at this stage to make sure we’re developing these features thoughtfully and will improve the feature based on feedback,” the video’s host said.
The feature will be accessible through the platform’s analytics menu, under the research tab, and will generate idea prompts for the topic of the video, specific talking points, and progression — even thumbnail suggestions using Google’s large language model’s image generation capabilities.
This marks Google’s second foray into including AI assistance in YouTube users’ creative processes. In May, the company launched a content inspiration tool on YouTube Studio that provides tips and suggestions for future clip topics based on viewer trends. For most any given topic, the AI will highlight related videos you’ve already published, provide tips on themes to use, and generate a script outline for you to follow.
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Creators who are participating in the experiment will have access to both the inspiration tool and brainstorm with Gemini, after inputting their video idea in the Studio search bar. Per TechCrunch, the company is using this as an A/B testing method to see whether creators prefer one over the other, or end up using both.
It is unlikely that these two features will fall under the AI transparency guidelines YouTube set out in March, which focuses primarily on labeling AI-generated images and videos.
“Generative AI is transforming the ways creators express themselves — from storyboarding ideas to experimenting with tools that enhance the creative process,” YouTube said in a message at the time. “But viewers increasingly want more transparency about whether the content they’re seeing is altered or synthetic.”
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Andrew has spent more than a decade reporting on emerging technologies ranging from robotics and machine learning to space…
- Computing
Google is bringing AI to the classroom — in a big way
Google is already incorporating its Gemini AI assistant into the rest of its product ecosystem to help individuals and businesses streamline their existing workflows. Now, the Silicon Valley titan is looking to bring AI into the classroom.
While we've already seen the damage that teens can do when given access to generative AI, Google argues that it is taking steps to ensure the technology is employed responsibly by students and academic faculty alike.
Following last year's initial rollout of a teen-safe version of Gemini for personal use, the company at the time decided to not enable the AI's use with school-issued accounts. That will change in the coming months as Google makes the AI available free of charge to students in over 100 countries though its Google Workspace for Education accounts and school-issued Chromebooks.
Teens that meet Google's minimum age requirements -- they have to be 13 or older in the U.S., 18 or over in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland, Canada, and the U.K. -- will be able to converse with Gemini as they would on their personal accounts. That includes access to features like Help me write, Help me read, generative AI backgrounds, and AI-powered noise cancellation. The company was quick to point out that no personal data from this program will be used to train AI models, and that school administrators will be granted admin access to implement or remove features as needed.
What's more, teens will be able to organize and track their homework assignments through Google Task and Calendar integrations as well as collaborate with their peers using Meet and Assignments.
Google Classroom will also integrate with the school's Student Information System (SIS), allowing educators to set up classes and import pertinent data such as student lists and grading settings. They'll also have access to an expanded Google for Education App Hub with 16 new app integrations including Kami, Quizizz, and Screencastify available at launch.
Students will also have access to the Read Along in Classroom feature, which provides them with real-time, AI-based reading help. Conversely, educators will receive feedback from the AI on the student's reading accuracy, speed, and comprehension.
In the coming months, Google also hopes to introduce the ability for teachers to generate personalized stories tailored to each student's specific education needs. The feature is currently available in English, with more than 800 books for teachers to choose from, though it will soon offer support for other languages, starting with Spanish.
Additionally, Google is piloting a suite of Gemini in Classroom tools that will enable teachers to "define groups of students in Classroom to assign different content based on each group’s needs." The recently announced Google Vids, which helps users quickly and easily cut together engaging video clips, will be coming to the classroom as well. A non-AI version of Vids arrives on Google Workspace for Education Plus later this year, while the AI-enhanced version will only be available as a Workspace add-on.
That said, Google has apparently not forgotten just how emotionally vicious teenagers can be. As such, the company is incorporating a number of safety and privacy tools into the new AI system. For example, school administrators will be empowered to prevent students from initiating direct messages and creating spaces to hinder bullying.
Admins will also have the option to block access to Classroom from compromised Android and iOS devices, and can require multiparty approval (i.e. at least two school officials) before security-sensitive changes (like turning off two-step authentication) can be implemented.
Google is introducing a slew of accessibility features as well. Chromebooks will get a new Read Aloud feature in the Chrome browser, for example. Extract Text from PDF will leverage OCR technology to make PDFs accessible to screen readers through the Chrome browser, while the Files app will soon offer augmented image labels to assist screen readers with relaying the contents of images in Chrome.
Later this year, Google also plans to release a feature that will allow users to control their Chromebooks using only their facial expressions and head movements.
These features all sound impressive and should help bring AI into the classroom in a safe and responsible manner -- in theory, at least. Though given how quickly today's teens can exploit security loopholes to bypass their school's web filters, Google's good intentions could ultimately prove insufficient.
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- Computing
I compared ChatGPT against Google Gemini to see which is the better free AI chatbot
Two of the leading AI chatbots available today come from Google, with its Gemini system, and OpenAI, the company that kicked off the AI revolution with ChatGPT.
But you might be wondering which is the better free chatbot. I've spent a significant time with both to see how they compare, break down the costs and benefits of each service, explain what features you'll have to pay for and which you get for free, and show you which AI is best for what you need.
Pricing and tiers
Both ChatGPT and Gemini are available to the public for free at their respective websites and through their mobile apps. However, free tier users will only receive limited access to the most current and capable models.
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- Computing
Google’s new AI generates audio soundtracks from pixels
Deep Mind showed off the latest results from its generative AI video-to-audio research on Tuesday. It's a novel system that combines what it sees on-screen with the user's written prompt to create synced audio soundscapes for a given video clip.
The V2A AI can be paired with vide -generation models like Veo, Deep Mind's generative audio team wrote in a blog post, and can create soundtracks, sound effects, and even dialogue for the on-screen action. What's more, Deep Mind claims that its new system can generate "an unlimited number of soundtracks for any video input" by tuning the model with positive and negative prompts that encourage or discourage the use of a particular sound, respectively.
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