YouTube is rolling out AI avatars, digital copies of a creator's face and voice that can star in Shorts in their place. It is available to creators aged 18 and over worldwide except in Europe.
A creator records a live selfie in the app's AI Playground to train the avatar, then types prompts describing what it should say and do. Clips are capped at eight seconds but can be joined, and the avatar can be dropped into other creators' videos through Remix. Only its owner can use it, and it can be deleted at any time.
Every avatar video gets YouTube's AI disclosure label plus visible watermarks and SynthID and C2PA marks. It follows Portraits, an earlier test letting fans talk to AI versions of creators.
YouTube told 9to5Google the feature gives users an easier and safe way to include themselves in videos. Tubefilter is sharply critical, arguing it cuts creators out of their own work and automates their contact with fans, at a time when YouTube is already criticised for the amount of AI slop it serves. It plans to watch how creators and viewers respond as the feature spreads.
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