For years, YouTube has been recommending users what its algorithm deems fit for them. While this approach has worked for some people, this one-size-fits-all method may not be what everyone is looking for. Moreover, with generative AI taking centre stage, the next big buzzword is personalization, and every company wants to hop on that train.
YouTube, for its part, has confirmed that it is testing a new way for users to personalize their experience on the streaming platform with the thing they see first: the Home feed. The Google-owned platform says that eligible users for the experiment should see a new feature called “Your custom feed” alongside the “Home” chip. The new feature will help users customize the recommendations on their Home feed.
How will YouTube’s AI personalize your experience?
YouTube is taking a very straightforward approach to tuning the Home feed by allowing users to enter a simple prompt to see more of what they like.
“If you are part of the experiment, you will see ‘Your Custom Feed’ appear on your Home page as a chip beside ‘Home’. When you click into it, you can update your existing Home feed recommendations by entering a simple prompt. This feature is designed to give you an easy-to-use way to have more control over your suggested content,” the company said in a support page.
If all of this feels familiar, it is because Elon Musk has been boasting about the exact same idea on X for months. The billionaire has promised users that Grok AI will eventually replace the default algorithm on X, meaning users could just tell the AI what they would like to see more or less of. However, it seems like YouTube may have beaten Musk to the punch, and if this experiment turns out to be successful, it does feel like Google may even bring a similar effort to its other apps.
As for YouTube, if the feature eventually rolls out to all users, it could mark a significant shift for both viewers and creators. Viewers would no longer be dependent on the all-powerful algorithm to recommend content. However, creators may need to rethink their strategy and consider what kinds of prompts people may type.
Musk has repeatedly said that one of the reasons behind the shift to an AI-powered algorithm is to give voice to smaller accounts, and the same may also be the case with YouTube — where specific niche-based accounts may start to see an increase in viewership because of prompt-based feeds.