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YouTube Rolls Out AI Avatars for Shorts That Look and Sound Like You

YouTube frames the tool as a safer way to appear on camera using watermarking, provenance tags, plus deletion controls.

Overview

  • Access starts with creators 18 and older outside Europe, and it requires ownership of an existing YouTube channel.
  • Users build an avatar by recording a live selfie and reading short voice prompts in the YouTube app or YouTube Create under the Create button’s Gemini spark.
  • Each generated segment can run up to eight seconds, and creators can chain clips or place the avatar into eligible Shorts in their feed.
  • YouTube says only the owner can use their avatar, it can be deleted at any time, and it auto-deletes after three years of no use while videos already posted stay up until removed.
  • All avatar clips carry visible AI labels plus SynthID and C2PA provenance marks, and the feature extends YouTube’s Veo-based tools with voice as the new capability.