YouTube | The Verge

YouTube is building AI creator tools that do almost everything for them

2026-09-23T09:49:24-04:00

Part of the job of a content creator is to figure out how to get their work in front of the most people. Cracking - or fighting - the algorithm has historically been a frustration for creators, but YouTube is increasingly simply telling creators what they should do.

At the annual creator-focused Made on YouTube event, the company announced updates to the suite of AI-powered creator tools it unveiled in 2025. In its initial iteration, the dashboard of creator tools included things like A/B testing for video thumbnails and a chatbot interface to query how content was performing. This year's update adds AI tools for more complex tasks.

Perhap …

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‘Trump TV’ is just reruns of the president on YouTube

2026-09-22T12:55:16-04:00

The White House is now airing reruns of President Donald Trump's speeches, bill signings, and other moments on a YouTube livestream that it's calling "Trump TV," as reported earlier by Time. The 24/7 station launched just days after Trump banned CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House.

Following several teasers propping up "Trump TV," Kaelan Dorr, the White House's head of digital strategy, revealed that the administration will air Trump's "greatest hits, unfiltered" on YouTube. "The press, in some cases, reported inaccurately or not at all on the Administration's many record breaking accomplishments on behalf of all Americans," Dorr …

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Google is sending MrBeast into the wilderness, armed with AI

2026-09-02T11:47:03-04:00

MrBeast will feature Gemini, Google Health, and the Fitbit Air in upcoming videos as part of a multi-year partnership with Google. The deal will kick off with a video featuring Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson turning to Gemini for wilderness survival advice:

First up on September 5 is a new MrBeast video following Jimmy and his crew as they attempt to survive some of the most extreme and treacherous climates on Earth. Teams will race to navigate three of the planet's most unforgiving landscapes - the jungle, the desert, and the Arctic - using Gemini to help them identify dangers, survive brutal weather changes, and stay one step ahead.

Google …

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If Meta’s going down, it’s taking TikTok and YouTube with it

2026-08-27T10:24:29-04:00

Meta might be on the hook for $17.1 billion and a host of app changes under a new kids safety settlement, but it's already spinning the deal to its advantage.

After years of being the national punching bag for social media harms, Meta has reached a settlement with 47 US states and several districts and territories that gives it a rare opportunity: A chance to flex on its rivals. "We want to ensure teens benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot do it alone," Meta says in an "Open Letter" that is also running as a full-page ad in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. "These protections will only be truly ef …

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Major YouTube creators are facing backlash for accepting AI money

2026-08-21T15:16:43-04:00

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A still from Sam Kolder’s video “AI is replacing me.” | Screenshot: The Verge, YouTube

Over the past few days, a number of prominent filmmaking content creators including Matti Haapoja and Sam "Kold" Kolder have posted videos of themselves demonstrating what's possible with AI platform Higgsfield. The videos highlight Higgsfield's recently added Seedance 2.5 functionality and pitch these technologies as the future of video production.

In response to these videos, other creators started sharing what appear to be screenshots of partnership offers they'd received from PR firms working on Higgsfield's behalf. All of this led fans to the conclusion that Higgsfield has been trying to use creators to boost its profile and garner goo …

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Oops! My cat is an iPad kid

2026-08-18T04:18:00-04:00

Pets, like children, come with the responsibility to keep them happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated - obligations I readily committed to before getting my cat, Trevor. I work from home, so he's never lonely, and play with him using a mountain of toys at every opportunity outside of my working hours. But younger cats can be incredibly demanding of your attention. I simply don't have the capacity to physically entertain Trevor every time he yowls at me (constantly) or distract him from chewing every cable he can get his paws on (also constantly).

Unlike children, one of the perks of having a blissfully simple animal is that there are far f …

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YouTube is changing how it counts views to give the numbers a boost

2026-08-17T14:38:34-04:00

YouTube will soon count a view as soon as a video starts to play, lining up with the system used by Instagram, TikTok, and its Shorts videos. The update will go into effect on August 24th, "which means creators will likely see their total view counts increase faster moving forward," the platform says.

Instagram and TikTok similarly add a view to a video when it starts to play or replay, while X counts a view when a user watches a video for at least two seconds. YouTube applied Instagram and TikTok's view-counting method to Shorts last year.

YouTube says it's going to keep its original view-counting method under an "engaged views" metric in …

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YouTube is making it harder to earn money on YouTube

2026-08-11T05:19:51-04:00

Starting February 1st, 2027, creators who want to monetize their channel through YouTube's Partner Program (YPP) will need at least 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. That's a sizeable jump from YouTube's current requirement of 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 watch hours in the past year, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days. Creators will also need to maintain 10 million Shorts views over 90 days to earn money from the Shorts Creators Pool, though falling below this threshold won't result in removal from YPP.

Ad …

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YouTube Premium will include Peacock starting next year

2026-07-27T12:24:38-04:00

YouTube's ad-free Premium subscription is getting another perk: access to Peacock. In an announcement on Monday, NBCUniversal says the multi-year agreement will allow Premium subscribers to stream Peacock's ad-supported shows, movies, and live sports directly through the YouTube app in 2027.

YouTube will bundle Peacock in its standard subscription, which increased to $15.99 / month in April, YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby confirmed to The Verge. That makes it cheaper than subscribing to both services individually, as Peacock currently starts at $10.99 / month for its ad-supported plan.

The news of the deal comes at a pivotal time for P …

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The vertical video takeover is here

2026-07-24T13:29:13-04:00

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things vertical video, follow David Pierce. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.

How it started

For a while, every social and media platform had its own identity. YouTube was for clips of TV shows and movies, and the home of so many members of a burgeoning creator community. Instagram was mostly pictures. Netflix was trying to be the on-demand HBO. Facebook was about friends. Twitter was about news. Snapchat was a messaging app.

All these apps did have one important …

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