Tech

Skip YouTube ads and even the entire video by having Gemini summarize it for you

Amjad Ali August 28, 2024

0 4 2 minutes read

Google’s Gemini seems to be improving rapidly, to the point where Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple Intelligence is underwhelming compared to Gemini. And Google is determined to bring its AI to any app it can, with Gemini now recognizing and working with YouTube as well.

There are actually two really cool Gemini features that are seemingly rolling out simultaneously for the Gemini and Google app betas. One is the “ask about this screen” feature and the other is “ask about this video”. The former was shown off at Google I/O this year where the company also showed off Project Astra. “Ask about this video” is basically the same thing, but it works for videos on YouTube.

Both have their use cases, so let’s talk about them in a little more detail.

Ask Gemini about your screen

Image credit — Google

Gemini is smart enough to understand what’s happening on your screen, something Apple Intelligence is also claimed to be capable of. You don’t have to stick to that single phrase either. Which means you don’t have to specifically say, “Gemini, what’s on my screen?” Instead, there is a helpful button that prompts the AI to receive queries about what’s currently being shown.As with all modern LLM (Large Language Model) AIs, you can converse with Gemini in a very natural way. Find yourself on a webpage with a very long article? Bring up Gemini and tell it to give you a summary. Have an image open and can’t make heads nor tails of it? Our AI friend can probably help.

The idea is that Gemini should always be at your fingertips, ready to assist in anything that might have you stumped.

Ask Gemini to summarize a YouTube video

Image credit — PhoneArena

This same feature, when being used in the YouTube app, takes on the slightest of changes. The button that read “Ask about this screen” now reads “Ask about this video” instead. There’s also a little YouTube icon to let you know that you’re about to ask Gemini something related to the video.
What’s hilarious is that Gemini uses the captions of a YouTube video to generate its responses. So if you don’t play the video, or even the preceding ad, you can still get Gemini to answer questions about the video.

I doubt this exploit is going to stay around for too long. Gemini will either start telling you to get done watching the ad or “helpfully” suggest subscribing to YouTube Premium. But hey, let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

Always listening… | Image credit — Google

As I mentioned above, Google is determined to bring Gemini to everything. I don’t have a problem with that myself but I’m glad most of the AI tools can be toggled off in case a user doesn’t want them. There’s AI in:

These are just Google’s services too. Many other platforms are also integrating their own AI into their apps. It seems pretty soon there won’t be a single device left that isn’t powered by AI. Naturally, Google doesn’t want to be left behind in this AI race.

Though AI has made it to places where it doesn’t seem all that useful (looking at you, countless emails about AI products) there’s no denying that lots of services will benefit from its inclusion. And with on-device AI alongside almost every service incorporating AI into it, Google seems to be setting itself up pretty well for the incoming age of AI.

It’s no wonder the Pixels are some of the best phones you can buy today.

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Amjad Ali August 28, 2024

0 4 2 minutes read