YouTube seems to be testing out a new sleep timer for its mobile app and on the desktop that stops playback after a set period of time. If a user has fallen into a YouTube rabbit hole late at night, they have likely also experienced waking up a few hours later to find that videos have continued to play.
Such instances can totally disrupt recommendations and watch history, but also can just become a bother to others around the users in the late hours of the night. As such, many users would probably immediately understand the value of a sleep time built-in on YouTube.
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YouTube Testing New Feature For Premium Users
The sleep time is exactly what YouTube is testing with Premium subscribers. Available now and through September 2, YouTube is testing out a sleep timer with premium subscribers which works in its mobile app and on desktop. TVs aren’t a part of the program as of now.
YouTube explains the feature saying: “Sleep Timer lets you set a timer to automatically pause playback after a certain amount of time.”
The option appears in the playback menu on the desktop and supports timer lengths of 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes, as well as stopping at the end of the video. The option is the same on the mobile app, at least for Android users, and it can be found under “Additional settings.”
This experiment is available to paying YouTube Premium subscribers through September 2, it’s something that we would guess will eventually roll out much more widely relatively soon.
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YouTube Testing Feature That Lets Users Brainstorm With AI
YouTube seems to be testing a new AI feature that will integrate Google Gemini to enable creators to brainstorm video ideas, titles, and thumbnails. The Google-owned company announced the launch of the new Brainstorm with Gemini feature in a video posted to its Creator Insider channel.
A YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch that the new feature will be available to select creators as a part of a small, limited experiment. The platform will also take feedback from creators before deciding whether to roll out the feature to a bigger audience.
The new feature could offer the video platform an edge over other social media platforms used by creators, as it offers them something that’s not available on other platforms. Moreover, the feature makes sense for Google to fuse its AI into its video platform in order to encourage creators to use its AI tools instead of other platforms including OpenAI’s ChatGPT.