For YouTube creators, responding to every comment on their videos can be cumbersome, especially if this comes in huge volumes. That is why Google is bringing its artificial intelligence-powered feature called SmartReply to YouTube in an effort to help creators engage with their fans more quickly.
Google announced today that a refreshed version of that capability will be incorporated into YouTube Studio, where creators manage their channel, view their stats, and respond to comments, among other tasks. But rather than typing each word of their responses, creators can pick an appropriate reply from a selection of suggested responses, courtesy of SmartReply.
Unlike SmartReply built for Gmail, where it deals with predominantly formal and long content, the version created specifically for YouTube is designed to handle a complex set of language such as "abbreviated words, slang, inconsistent usage of punctuation, and heavy utilization of emoji". Google noted that these practices pose a more increased challenge in YouTube than in emails, and explained in-depth how it addressed that challenge in a blog post.
The Mountain View-based giant added that it only intended for SmartReply to suggest replies in situations when it is likely that the creator would want to make a response and when it"s possible for the system to make a sensible reply. To achieve that, Google trained the feature to identify which types of comments should trigger a response.
The system is now available for English and Spanish comments at launch, marking the first cross-lingual and character byte-based version of SmartReply. Google vows to make this feature available or other languages in the future.