YouTube is pushing its conversational AI beyond mobile screens and into living rooms. The Google-owned video platform just launched an experiment that brings its AI assistant to smart TVs, allowing viewers to interact with an AI chatbot while watching content on the big screen. The move signals Google's broader strategy to embed AI across every surface where users consume content, transforming passive TV watching into an interactive experience.
YouTube just made your TV a lot smarter. The platform is testing a conversational AI feature on smart TVs that lets viewers ask questions and get answers about whatever they're watching, according to TechCrunch. It's the latest sign that Google isn't content to keep its AI tools confined to phones and computers.
The experiment brings YouTube's existing conversational AI assistant to the big screen for the first time. While the company has been testing similar features on mobile devices, expanding to TVs represents a strategic shift toward ambient computing - putting AI wherever users happen to be consuming content. For YouTube, that increasingly means the living room, where TV viewership has been quietly surging.
Here's how it works. Viewers can summon the AI assistant while watching videos on their smart TV and ask questions related to what they're seeing. Want to know more about a recipe ingredient in a cooking video? Ask. Curious about a historical fact mentioned in a documentary? The AI can explain. It's designed to enhance the viewing experience without forcing users to pull out their phones or pause what they're watching.
The timing isn't accidental. YouTube has been aggressively courting the living room for years, and it's paying off. According to Google's recent earnings disclosures, YouTube's TV viewership has grown substantially, with users now watching over a billion hours of content daily on television screens. That makes smart TVs prime real estate for AI integration, especially as Google races to embed its AI technology across every product it offers.
