YouTube 将允许你借助 AI 打造自己的推荐算法

YouTube 表示，它将让你打造自己的推荐算法——某种意义上来说。该公司周三宣布了一项名为“自定义信息流”（custom feeds）的新功能，允许用户用自己的语言描述希望 YouTube 向自己推荐哪些类型的视频。

要创建一个信息流，你只需在 YouTube 的提示词输入框中描述希望该信息流围绕什么主题，无论是专注于某项特定兴趣，还是服务于其他用途。例如，YouTube 建议，你可以创建一个适合在 30 分钟火车通勤期间观看的视频播客信息流，或者请求适合某种心情的视频，例如“帮助放松身心的舒缓评论视频”。

图片来源： YouTube

这项基于提示词的功能利用 Google 的 Gemini AI 模型，根据你的请求构建信息流；生成后的信息流会以独立标签页形式固定在 YouTube 首页顶部。由于信息流的创建由 AI 驱动，用户可以用较长的文字描述需求，详细说明希望如何策划该信息流、其中应包含或排除什么内容、哪些内容应被优先推荐等。

这一功能的推出，紧随其他多家社交网络的类似举措。这些平台已开发出相应工具，本质上允许用户通过描述希望信息流包含什么内容，以及希望这些信息以何种形式呈现，来打造自己的算法。

去中心化社交网络 Bluesky 多年前开始推广这一理念，以此将自身与 X 等竞争对手区分开来。今年，该公司推出了 AI 工具 Attie，使创建信息流变得更加容易。包括 Meta 的 Threads、Instagram、X以及最近的 Spotify 在内的其他服务，也都推出了各自的信息流创建功能，其中许多同样由 AI 驱动。

图片来源： YouTube

YouTube 认为，自定义信息流将帮助用户更好地探索平台上如今数量庞大的视频内容。

“使用 YouTube 最令人惊叹的一点，是世界始终触手可及，”Viewer AI 产品管理副总裁 Emily Moxley 在周三 Made On YouTube 活动举行前向媒体进行的预沟通中表示；自定义信息流正是在该活动上向公众发布。“YouTube 内容库中有超过 200 亿条视频，因此你只需进行一次搜索，就能发现大量主题宝藏。”

不过，这些新信息流不会取代展示所有推荐内容的 YouTube 主信息流。相反，当你打开 YouTube 应用时，今后将能够轻松跳转至最符合当前需求的信息流。

该公司表示，支持创建多个自定义信息流的功能将于下个月开始在 YouTube 网页端和移动端逐步推出。

YouTube says it’s going to let you build your own algorithm — well, kind of. The company on Wednesday announced a new feature called custom feeds that allows you to describe, in your own words, the kinds of videos you’d like YouTube to recommend to you.

To create one, you type a description of what you want the feed to be about into a prompt box on YouTube, whether that’s a feed dedicated to a particular interest or one that serves some other purpose. For instance, YouTube suggests you could build a feed of video podcasts to watch during your 30-minute train commute, or you could request videos for a particular mood, like “relaxing commentary videos to unwind with.”

Image Credits: YouTube

The prompt-based feature leverages Google’s Gemini AI model to build the feed around your request, and the resulting feed is then pinned to the top of your YouTube home page in its own tab. Because the feed’s creation is AI-powered, the request can be described in lengthy terms, as you share detailed information about how you want to curate the feed, what it should feature or exclude, what content to prioritize, and more.

The addition follows similar moves by a number of other social networks that have created tools that essentially allow users to build their own algorithms by describing what they want their feed to include and how to present that information to them.

Decentralized social network Bluesky began popularizing this idea years ago as a way to differentiate its service from rivals like X. This year, it rolled out an AI tool, Attie, that makes feed-building even easier. Other services, including Meta’s Threads, Instagram, X, and, more recently, Spotify, have also launched their own feed-building features, many of which are also AI-powered.

Image Credits: YouTube

YouTube believes custom feeds will help users better explore the vast number of videos now hosted on its platform.

“One of the amazing things about being on YouTube is that the world is always at your fingertips,” noted Emily Moxley, VP of Product Management for Viewer AI, in a pre-brief with reporters ahead of the Made On YouTube event on Wednesday, where custom feeds were introduced to the public. “There’s over 20 billion videos in the YouTube corpus, so you’re always one search away from a treasure trove of topics.”

The new feeds, however, will not replace YouTube’s main feed, which features all your recommendations. Instead, you will now be able to easily hop right into whichever feed best suits your purposes when you open the YouTube app.

Support for creating multiple custom feeds will roll out across YouTube on web and mobile, starting next month, the company said.