YouTube adds AI agent to tune older videos and prepare brand pitches
New tools can generate and test titles, thumbnails and video versions, though YouTube has not provided data showing whether they improve creator performance.
YouTube has expanded its AI tools for creators, adding an agent that can flag older videos gaining renewed interest, suggest title and thumbnail changes, and help prepare pitches to brands.
Announced at the company’s Made on YouTube event, the agent can draw on a creator’s channel, audience and demographic data to assemble sponsor pitches. It can also generate titles and thumbnails from uploaded videos and offer feedback on creators’ own thumbnail designs.
Creators can test up to three thumbnail options with different audience segments. YouTube is also introducing tests of up to three versions of a video, such as edits with different introductions or structures. The system compares watch time, and creators can make the version that performs best permanent. YouTube may also select it automatically after seven days.
The updates build on tools introduced in 2025, including thumbnail testing and a chatbot for querying content performance. Amjad Hanif, YouTube’s vice-president of creator products, said the tools are intended to save creators time.
YouTube declined to provide performance data showing whether the tools lift views or other measures of creator success. Hanif drew a distinction between AI that helps creators work more efficiently and tools that produce the content itself, which he said could cross a line for viewers.
