{"id":1874477,"date":"2026-04-09T14:02:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1874477"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:02:23","slug":"google-introduces-ai-generated-avatars-to-youtube-shorts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1874477","title":{"rendered":"Google introduces AI-generated avatars to YouTube Shorts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/huAdNFm.CoNmUIAz_tUcsw&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD04MDA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2026-04\/5d8eff90-341b-11f1-bdb7-63d9a9cb609e&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"article-65548582-3ef0-43b8-a130-6945ea26096a\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px]\">\n<nav class=\"prestige-breadcrumb relative mx-4 md:mx-0\" aria-label=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<ol class=\"no-scrollbar overflow-scroll whitespace-nowrap text-battleship\">\n<li class=\"inline\">\n<li class=\"inline-block cursor-default last:pr-10 md:last:pr-20 font-bold\">Social media<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/nav>\n<header class=\"mb-4 px-4 md:mb-6 md:px-0\">\n<h1 class=\"layout-h1 my-2 font-bold leading-tight\">Google introduces AI-generated avatars to YouTube Shorts<\/h1>\n<h2 class=\"my-2 text-[18px] font-light leading-5 md:max-w-[660px] md:text-[20px]\/[28px]\">The new feature was teased earlier this year and is now rolling out gradually.<\/h2>\n<div class=\"flex-col items-start lg:flex lg:flex-row lg:items-center lg:justify-between mt-6\">\n<div class=\"relative md:mr-[10px]\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex mr-2\">\n<div class=\"shrink-0 cursor-pointer inline-block size-[42px] lg:size-[48px]\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt role=\"img\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full rounded-full object-cover object-center shadow-[0_0_0_2px_#ffffff]\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/YChffXUPk8V2biuZ34hlag--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTgwO2g9ODA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/uu\/api\/res\/1.2\/O4XXL8jnNy1MrlJms5PXaA--~B\/aD02MDA7dz02MDA7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-\/https:\/\/d29szjachogqwa.cloudfront.net\/images\/user-uploaded\/mattateauthorimage.jpg\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"inline-block\">\n<div class=\"w-max text-sm\/5 font-semibold lg:!flex flex items-center\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col\">\n<div class=\"flex w-max items-center\">Matt Tate<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"font-normal sm:before:inline-block\">Contributing reporter<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"lg:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-09T14:02:23.000Z\">Thu, April 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ml-0 mt-4 flex items-center lg:ml-3 lg:mt-0\">\n<div class=\"ml-0 mr-2\">\n<div class=\"relative flex\">Add Engadget on Google<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"hidden lg:block\">\n<div class=\"text-xs text-dolphin dark:text-shark md:text-sm\/5 pt-4\">\n<div class=\"inline-block\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-09T14:02:23.000Z\">Thu, April 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM UTC<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-1 gap-x-8 lg:gap-x-0 mx-auto md:px-10 md:max-w-[1220px] md:grid-cols-[[main-start]_1fr_[main-end_right-start]_min-content_[right-end]] lg:!gap-x-8\">\n<div class=\"md:col-main\" data-i13n-boundary=\"true\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-[[fullbleed-start_body-start]_minmax(auto,750px)_[body-end_fullbleed-end]]\">\n<figure class=\"relative col-body mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative overflow-hidden fig-image-round left-1\/2 w-screen -translate-x-1\/2 md:left-0 md:w-auto md:translate-x-0\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt class=\"object-cover object-center\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/vaHTXAcIKqXfrQmSFjMg2g--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2026-04\/5d8eff90-341b-11f1-bdb7-63d9a9cb609e\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-[0.875rem]\/[1.25rem] figure-caption mt-1 line-clamp-2 mt-2.5 md:mt-2 pr-2.5\">\n<div><span>NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">A new feature that lets you create an AI avatar with your likeness is now live on YouTube. First <ins>announced<\/ins> in a blog post earlier this year, avatars are designed to be used in Shorts (provided you still <ins>allow<\/ins> them to show up), allowing you to insert yourself into video content in a way that YouTube deems to be safe and secure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">YouTube\u2019s approach to combatting the AI sloppification of the internet and the proliferation of <ins>deepfakes<\/ins> appears to be adding more and more AI features to its platform, framing this latest addition as a tool that gives creators more control of their digital identities. Any video generated using an avatar will feature YouTube\u2019s AI disclosure and include visible watermarks and labels like SynthID and C2PA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">YouTube has published a pretty in-depth <ins>explainer<\/ins> on how to create and use an avatar in either the YouTube or YouTube Create app, but here\u2019s a brief summary of how to do it using the former. Once you\u2019ve opened AI Playground, you\u2019ll be taking a &#8220;live selfie&#8221; that also records your voice. You can then preview your photorealistic virtual self and either proceed with it or redo the process if you\u2019re unhappy with anything. Creating an avatar in the YouTube Create app is broadly similar, but you have to navigate to the My Avatar homepage first.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_ld9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_15d9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">YouTube recommends that you hold your phone at eye level and keep yourself centered as much as possible. Lighting is also important, as is ensuring your whole face is visible, you\u2019re in a quiet area, and there\u2019s nobody else in the background. You also have to be the account owner to create an avatar, and over the age of 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Once you have an avatar you like, you simply type in a prompt and wait for the AI to generate a video, which according to <em><ins>9to5Google<\/ins><\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em>can be up to eight seconds long. Alternatively, YouTube will also let you add an avatar to existing &#8220;eligible&#8221; Shorts by tapping &#8220;Remix&#8221; and then &#8220;Reimagine&#8221; with your avatar selected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Avatars can be deleted or retaken whenever you like, as can any video with your avatar in it. You can also limit who\u2019s able to remix your videos, but deleting a video with your avatar in it won\u2019t also delete the original video, or that avatar from your account. YouTube will automatically delete any avatar that hasn\u2019t been used to create new video content for three years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The new avatar feature will roll out gradually, and is the latest in a long line of AI-centric tools and updates YouTube has added to the platform in the last year, including <ins>automatic upscaling<\/ins> for low-res videos, <ins>automatic editing<\/ins> for creators and an <ins>AI-generated carousel<\/ins> for search results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"md:col-main grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px]\">\n<div class=\"no-scrollbar col-body mx-4 mb-8 mt-2.5 overflow-x-scroll whitespace-nowrap md:mx-0 md:max-w-[750px] md:overflow-x-visible\">\n<div class=\"mx-auto max-w-screen-sm\">\n<ul class=\"inline-flex text-xs md:text-sm\">\n<li class=\"mr-6\">About our ads<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"grid grid-cols-article-mobile md:grid-cols-article lg:max-w-[750px] drop-cap\" data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">A new feature that lets you create an AI avatar with your likeness is now live on YouTube. First <ins>announced<\/ins> in a blog post earlier this year, avatars are designed to be used in Shorts (provided you still <ins>allow<\/ins> them to show up), allowing you to insert yourself into video content in a way that YouTube deems to be safe and secure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">YouTube\u2019s approach to combatting the AI sloppification of the internet and the proliferation of <ins>deepfakes<\/ins> appears to be adding more and more AI features to its platform, framing this latest addition as a tool that gives creators more control of their digital identities. Any video generated using an avatar will feature YouTube\u2019s AI disclosure and include visible watermarks and labels like SynthID and C2PA.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">YouTube has published a pretty in-depth <ins>explainer<\/ins> on how to create and use an avatar in either the YouTube or YouTube Create app, but here\u2019s a brief summary of how to do it using the former. Once you\u2019ve opened AI Playground, you\u2019ll be taking a &#8220;live selfie&#8221; that also records your voice. You can then preview your photorealistic virtual self and either proceed with it or redo the process if you\u2019re unhappy with anything. Creating an avatar in the YouTube Create app is broadly similar, but you have to navigate to the My Avatar homepage first.<\/p>\n<div class=\"col-fullbleed mb-4 bg-marshmallow pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:invisible md:mb-0 md:h-0 md:overflow-hidden md:pb-0\">\n<div class=\"py-2 text-center text-xs uppercase\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_ld9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col-body mb-4 hidden pb-5 dark:bg-ramones md:block\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-nowrap justify-center\">\n<div class=\"flex\" id=\"_R_15d9nam95feiv5tilbH1_\">\n<div class=\"flex size-full items-center justify-center bg-marshmallow text-center leading-3\">Advertisement<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">YouTube recommends that you hold your phone at eye level and keep yourself centered as much as possible. Lighting is also important, as is ensuring your whole face is visible, you\u2019re in a quiet area, and there\u2019s nobody else in the background. You also have to be the account owner to create an avatar, and over the age of 18.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Once you have an avatar you like, you simply type in a prompt and wait for the AI to generate a video, which according to <em><ins>9to5Google<\/ins><\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em>can be up to eight seconds long. Alternatively, YouTube will also let you add an avatar to existing &#8220;eligible&#8221; Shorts by tapping &#8220;Remix&#8221; and then &#8220;Reimagine&#8221; with your avatar selected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">Avatars can be deleted or retaken whenever you like, as can any video with your avatar in it. You can also limit who\u2019s able to remix your videos, but deleting a video with your avatar in it won\u2019t also delete the original video, or that avatar from your account. YouTube will automatically delete any avatar that hasn\u2019t been used to create new video content for three years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"col-body mb-4 leading-7 text-[18px] md:leading-8 break-words min-w-0 charcoal-color\">The new avatar feature will roll out gradually, and is the latest in a long line of AI-centric tools and updates YouTube has added to the platform in the last year, including <ins>automatic upscaling<\/ins> for low-res videos, <ins>automatic editing<\/ins> for creators and an <ins>AI-generated carousel<\/ins> for search results.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/social-media\/google-introduces-ai-generated-avatars-to-youtube-shorts-140222368.html&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/huAdNFm.CoNmUIAz_tUcsw&#8211;\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyMDA7aD04MDA-\/https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2026-04\/5d8eff90-341b-11f1-bdb7-63d9a9cb609e&#8221;] Social media Google introduces AI-generated avatars to YouTube Shorts The new feature was teased earlier this year and is now rolling out gradually. Matt Tate Contributing reporter Thu, April 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM UTC Add Engadget on Google Thu, April 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM UTC NurPhoto via Getty Images A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,63],"class_list":["post-1874477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-engadget-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1874477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1874477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1874477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1874477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}