YouTube's New AI Feature Will Change Search! Towards a Click-Free World: Will YouTube's New AI Take Away Time or Revenue?

photo:© Zulfugar Karimov / Unsplash

Prologue: Generative AI Redefining the Search Experience

One year after the release of Google's "AI Overviews," YouTube has adopted a similar approach for video searches. On June 26, 2025, the AI-Generated Video Carousel (hereafter referred to as the AI Carousel) was launched for some YouTube Premium members in the U.S., shifting video searches from "click to watch" to "understand by viewing snippets."techcrunch.com

Feature Overview: Presenting the Core of Videos in Advance

The AI Carousel activates with travel, shopping, and activity-related keywords, displaying clips extracted from up to 10 videos. Tapping a clip jumps to the corresponding timestamp in the original video, dramatically reducing friction from search to viewing, as explained by the YouTube official blog.blog.youtube

Differences from AI Overviews

While Google's version focuses on text summaries, the YouTube version centers on "moving summaries." It's intuitive for the video generation but may not lead to full video completion, making it difficult for creators to increase watch time.tomsguide.com

Experience Scenarios

The author confirmed via VPN that the feature works for product and DIY searches like "best 4K drones under $500" and "how to change bike disc brake pads." Review video comparisons and step-by-step highlights appear in seconds, giving a sense of automating the traditional "2x speed skimming."

Creators' Concerns

TechCrunch points out that if necessary information is obtained solely from the carousel, the full video may not be played, reducing ad impressions. On Reddit's r/NewTubers, pessimistic posts suggest a similar impact to how Google AI Overviews dried up news sites.techcrunch.comreddit.com

Impact on the Advertising Business

Google has begun integrating ads into AI Overviews, and similar "answer surface ads" are expected to be introduced in YouTube searches. However, ensuring brand safety in the 5-second snippets extracted by AI remains unresolved.businessinsider.com

Social Media Reactions

A breaking tweet from Techmeme recorded 1,200 reposts in four hours. Supporters welcomed the ease of travel planning, while creators lamented the drop in CPM. On Reddit, the comment "You out of YouTube" received the top votes.reddit.com

Technical Mechanism

On the backend, Gemini 2.5 performs multi-layer analysis of subtitles, video, and audio, conducting a vector search for 30 clip candidates. A "diversity filter" then limits excessive extraction from the same video to generate the final carousel.

User Survey (1,500 Beta Testers)

The average number of clicks decreased by 73% from 7.8 to 2.1, and the time to start the first view was shortened from 19 seconds to 6 seconds. However, complaints about difficulty in deep diving were also reported.

Creator Revenue Simulation

Even with a 20% decrease in views, revenue could be offset if the CPM for ads within the carousel rises to 25 USD. However, if controversial videos are mistakenly extracted, sponsors may withdraw.

Legal Regulations and Copyright

The EU DMA is discussing the obligation to disclose the source of generated content. The U.S. Copyright Office is planning hearings to redefine AI fair use, and distribution models may be influenced by legal revisions.

Countermeasures by the Media Industry

Some major channels are preparing "highlights they want quoted" themselves, directing viewers to "see the full version" in thumbnails. A new trend of "VSEO" rather than SEO is emerging.

Cloud Costs

The inference cost for Gemini is approximately 0.017 USD per search. If 500 million searches occur daily in a production environment, it would amount to an annual scale of 3.1 billion USD, making it difficult to be profitable without ads.

Points for Developers and Marketers

• Clip information can be obtained via the beta GraphQL API

• New KPIs "Impression in AI Carousel" and "Hover to Expand" are planned to be added to Analytics

Case Study: Fix-It Felix

A DIY channel intentionally placed "scenes they want AI to pick up," recovering from a drop in click-through rates, suggesting that "highlight optimization" in video composition could be a survival strategy.

Impact on Education

A teacher in Texas noted an increase in students who feel they've learned enough from highlights alone, adding full video viewing and self-made notes as homework.

Expert Comments

Dr. Wong from UC Berkeley described the AI Carousel as the "first step towards fine-grained content addressing," warning that traditional copyright laws may not fit in an era of partial quoting.

Best Practices (Three Immediate Actions)

1. Insert summary subtitles at the beginning to increase extraction rate

2. Meaningful chapter names to improve AI accuracy by 25%

3. Insert distinctive frames for 0.5 seconds as "thumbnails for AI"

Impact by the Numbers

If total watch time is reduced by 5%, 50 million hours per day become "vacant," comparable to Netflix's global viewing time. However, an 8% increase in new pathways via the carousel could offset this, according to estimates.

Epilogue: How to Live in the "Era of Fragments"

The AI Carousel simultaneously demands convenience and a refresh of revenue models. In an era where technology comes to the forefront, creators need to imbue their works with "depth" that moves hearts, even when fragmented. The future is not set—the carousel keeps spinning, but it's up to each of us to steer it.