YouTube used its annual Made on YouTube event in New York City on September 23, 2026, to unveil a slate of artificial intelligence tools, shopping updates and viewer features aimed squarely at creators. The announcements touch nearly every part of the publishing workflow, from draft feedback to thumbnails to how videos get discovered after they go live.

The centerpiece is Ask Studio, an AI assistant inside YouTube Studio that reviews draft videos and gives personalized feedback based on a channel’s previous content and audience comments. It proposes alternative titles and thumbnail options, explains channel analytics in plain language and suggests ways to improve metrics. Ask Studio is also expanding to YouTube’s mobile apps, putting the feedback loop in creators’ pockets.

Packaging gets two major upgrades. YouTube already lets creators A/B test titles and thumbnails, and from 2027 it will let creators upload and test up to three different cuts of a Short to see which edit performs best. A separate Dynamic Thumbnails feature lets creators upload multiple thumbnails and leaves it to YouTube to show each viewer the one most likely to earn the click. Creators can also apply these tools to their back catalogs: with permission, Ask Studio will monitor thumbnail performance on older videos and run tests to refresh them automatically.

A Gemini-powered editing assistant is coming to Shorts and the YouTube Create app, helping trim pauses and sync music to clips. On the commerce side, YouTube will use AI to auto-tag products in videos to help creators earn affiliate revenue, and it is expanding its Amazon affiliate program beyond the United States, with creators in India and Brazil getting Amazon product tagging soon. The company said its Shopping affiliate program will reach 35 countries by the end of 2026, with more than 1.3 million creators already enrolled.

For viewers, YouTube announced Custom Feeds for US users on web, mobile and TV, letting people save homepage tabs tailored to interests like documentaries or DIY. Its Ask YouTube conversational feature is adding shopping queries and follow-up questions, including product-comparison tables and voice commands for TV viewers.

The practical takeaway for creators is to start treating packaging as an ongoing process rather than a one-time decision. Turn on Ask Studio where available, build two or three thumbnail variants into the upload routine now so the habit exists when dynamic thumbnails arrive, and review the back catalog for videos that could earn a second life with refreshed packaging.