YouTube to use AI to help podcasters promote themselves with clips and Shorts

YouTube used its Made on YouTube live event in New York to reveal a new slate of AI-powered tools for podcasters.

The company said creators will be able to turn video podcasts into clips and YouTube Shorts, and it introduced a feature that can generate videos from audio-only podcasts. Both capabilities are driven by AI and are expected to roll out in the coming months.

The Shorts transformation of those clips is planned to arrive early next year, while the video-creation feature for audio-only podcasters will be available to select podcasters early next year, with a broader expansion planned for 2026.

For video podcasts in the United States, YouTube’s AI tool will help creators generate clips more easily by offering AI suggestions, according to the company. The goal is to streamline clipping and repurposing content, while the Shorts conversion feature is slated to arrive in the early part of next year.

Separately, the company said an AI-driven option to produce a customizable video from an audio podcast will also be available, initially to select podcasters with plans for wider rollout later in 2026.

This marks another step in YouTube’s ongoing push to enhance tools for podcasters and make podcasts more prominent on its homepage and within YouTube Music. The announcements come as YouTube competes with rivals like TikTok and Instagram (Reels) for short-form video attention and podcast discovery. Spotify has been expanding its own podcast reach with added video support and engagement features such as comments, polls, and Q&As, along with monetization tools. YouTube has been expanding its podcast footprint in recent years, and the company noted strong engagement metrics.

In February, YouTube announced it had surpassed 1 billion monthly podcaster viewers. As of July 2025, users now consume over 100 million hours of podcasts daily, with more than 30% of those hours starting as a livestream or premiere.