YouTube introduces an interactive search feature called 'Ask YouTube,' and its multimodal generation AI, 'Gemini Omni,' will be introduced to YouTube Shorts remixes and the YouTube Create app.

At Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O 2026, held on May 19, 2026, YouTube announced interactive search ' Ask YouTube ,' a YouTube Shorts remix feature, and support for the multimodal generation AI Gemini Omni in the YouTube Create app.

YouTube launches interactive search and AI video remixing for creators - YouTube Blog
https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/youtube-news-google-io-2026/

Ask YouTube is a new search experience that allows users to ask more complex questions in natural language. For example, you can find out how to teach a child to ride a bicycle or creator reviews of games that are good to play before bedtime.

Ask YouTube allows you to further refine your search by asking additional questions. It gathers relevant videos, including full-length and short videos, from the entire YouTube catalog and presents them as interactive, structured answers.

Ask YouTube is currently available to YouTube Premium members aged 18 and over in the United States. YouTube says it plans to roll it out to all users in the future.

Additionally, Gemini Omni will be introduced to the YouTube Shorts remix feature and the YouTube Create app. This will allow users to add their own prompts and images to eligible short videos, enabling them to create new visual expressions while maintaining the context of the original video.

The following video was generated by using the remix function to upload my own photo, prompting me with a message like, 'Transform it into an 8-bit video game style and you will appear as Player 2.'


Furthermore, as shown in the video below, Gemini Omni allows users to appear alongside their favorite creators or transform scenes into pirate-themed settings. Gemini Omni better understands user intent from natural language text prompts, helping to create consistent storylines while handling complex video and audio adjustments in the background.


YouTube Shorts remixed with Gemini Omni will be given a digital watermark ( SynthID) , identifying metadata, and a link to the original video. Creators can manage their content and opt out of the Shorts remix feature at any time.

'Likeness detection,' which allows creators to detect and manage their own likeness, will be expanded to all creators aged 18 and over. The remix feature by Gemini Omni is now available for free on YouTube Shorts Remix and the YouTube Create app, and will be introduced to AI Playground in the future.