Summary
- YouTube is focusing on AI features to help creators, like the Dream Screen tool for generating virtual backgrounds.
- The Dream Screen feature aims to save small creators money on buying physical green screens and simplifies editing.
- Green screen features were first added to YouTube Shorts in 2022, but Dream Screen takes it a step further with in-app image generation.
Google hasn’t shied away from bringing its generative AI features to one of its best product: YouTube. The Mountain View, California-based tech giant, since August of last year, has tested several AI-enabled features on the video streaming platform, including AI-generated video summaries, conversational AI for answering questions and comment topic summaries, and more.
Recently, it seems that there has been a shift in the intention of feature releases. The streaming platform is going from releasing AI-enabled features for the end customer to features focused on helping creators. Take the recently released GenAI content inspiration tool for example. The tool aims to help creators come up with content ideas to create on. Now, building on top of that, the streaming platform has begun testing a new AI-enabled creator-focused feature for YouTube Shorts.
YouTube’s latest AI tool wants to keep your subscription feed full
Even after your favorite creators run out of ideas
Google updated its test features and experiments support page on Monday, June 3, announcing that it is testing a new feature called Dream Screen. The feature essentially creates a virtual green screen background for Shorts creators, allowing them to generate a background of their choice just by typing it into the tool. Though the blog post doesn’t explicitly say this, it looks like the AI-generated backgrounds could be static images and animations.
The feature essentially helps small creators save funds on buying an actual green screen and scraps the need for editing knowledge. It’s worth noting that the feature is only rolling out to a small number of Shorts creators at the moment, and it only supports prompts in English. Google says that the feature might roll out to more creators sometime later this year. “This experiment is rolling out to a small number of Shorts creators at first, but we’ll keep everyone updated on our plans to roll the feature out to more creators later this year.”
Green screen features were first added to YouTube Shorts in 2022
YouTube’s next Shorts feature continues in its proud tradition of shameless TikTok ripoffs
Green Screen is rolling out for iOS today and comes to Android later this year
It’s worth noting that green screen features aren’t entirely new for YouTube Shorts. Image-generated green screens were first added to the platform back in 2022. Originally, you’d be able to choose a photo or video from your gallery and use it as a background for your Short. The new Dream Screen feature, however, just takes the tool a step further, allowing creators to generate images directly within the app.
To check if you have access to the new feature, head to Create on YouTube and tap on green screen on the right-aligned menu. If Dream Screen is available to you, you should see a star logo at the bottom. YouTube is likely using Gemini to generate Dream Screen backdrops.
If the tool might be beneficial to you but you don’t have access to it, here’s a workaround. Head to gemini.google.com/ and type in your image generation prompt → Download the image and save it in your Gallery → Tap Create on the YouTube app → From the right menu, tap Green screen → select the image you generated via Gemini. You’ve now essentially replicated what YouTube is doing with Dream Screen, albeit with a few extra steps.
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