With this YouTube Shorts feature, users can write a text prompt to generate AI images for the background.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Alexander Shatov
This feature is exclusively for the Shorts format and is not available for the longer video format
YouTube is testing a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature for its minute-long vertical video format, Shorts. Dubbed Dream Screen, this feature will add a custom green screen image generated by AI to the videos. This feature is likely aimed at users who prefer to use creative backgrounds to stand out in the videos or be thematically aligned with the content of the video. This is an experimental feature by the video streaming giant and is currently available only to a select group of Shorts creators.
YouTube Shorts gets an AI background feature
The Google-owned video-sharing platform posted about this feature on its support page on Monday. The company said, “We’re experimenting with a new feature, Dream Screen, that uses AI to generate image green screen backgrounds for Shorts.” YouTube did not specify which AI model was being used for this feature.
Users, once they get access to Dream Screen, can write a text prompt describing what they want in the background. Highlighting one example, the post stated users can request a “fancy hotel pool on a tropical island,” and the AI will instantly generate it. Once generated, it can be added to the background of the video.
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The short post described the feature but did not explain several aspects of it. For example, it did not mention whether the background needs to be added at the recording stage or if it can also be added to a pre-recorded video. Further, it is not known whether users will require a real green screen for the effect to show, or it can be digitally added similar to Google Meet. Notably, the company also did not specify any restrictions in generating AI images. It is possible that these directions will show up on the Dream Screen feature page.
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Being an experimental feature (features Google is currently testing or is in beta), Dream Screen is only available to a select group of Shorts creators. However, the company has highlighted that more creators will get this tool later in 2023. Separately, the video streaming platform has made its Playables feature available to all users. It offers access to more than 75 different free-to-play games which was previously only available to YouTube Premium subscribers.