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April 28, 2025
Artificial intelligence (AI) promises time savings and increased productivity. One application example is the summarization of YouTube videos. Especially with longer videos, AI can help to quickly grasp the most important points.
Google Gemini, a new AI model, integrates into various Google applications, including Google Search, Google Maps, and YouTube. The "Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental" model is available to all Gemini users, both paying and free accounts. It allows the analysis of YouTube videos directly through the Gemini web interface or the mobile apps.
The "2.0 Flash Thinking (experimental)" model can be found in the model selection menu in the upper left corner of the Gemini web interface. In the mobile apps, the selection option is located in the dropdown menu at the top of a new conversation. The web version offers the advantage of adding YouTube URLs directly via drag-and-drop for analysis. In addition to analyzing videos, Gemini also allows searching for new YouTube content based on specific topics.
To test Gemini's capabilities, the model was applied to different video types, including sports highlights, making-of documentaries, and interviews. In a test with a Super Bowl LIX highlights video, Gemini was able to correctly identify the participating teams and the winner. Summarizing the key plays also worked well. However, there were minor inaccuracies, such as attributing a touchdown to the wrong player. This shows that the AI still has difficulties interpreting complex game situations.
With a making-of video for "The Grand Budapest Hotel," Gemini recognized the film title and the main plot points of the video. However, the analysis was limited to the audio track. Information presented only visually, such as the names of the interviewees, could not be captured by Gemini. The summary of the audio information, however, was accurate and included timestamps for the key points.
In a test with an interview, Gemini also proved capable of extracting the main talking points and providing timestamps. Here, too, the analysis was limited to the audio track. Information about the context of the interview, such as the location or the body language of the participants, was not captured.
Gemini proves to be a useful tool for summarizing YouTube videos, especially when the desired information is contained in the audio track. The AI provides accurate summaries and timestamps for the key points. However, the analysis of visual information is still limited. For a complete understanding of the video, watching the original material is therefore still necessary.
Sources: - https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-use-gemini-ai-to-watch-and-summarize-youtube-videos-for-you/ - https://www.tomsguide.com/how-to-use-google-gemini-to-summarize-a-youtube-video - https://ldstephens.medium.com/heres-how-to-summarize-youtube-videos-using-gemini-7d2e9803b3fe - https://codelabs.developers.google.com/devsite/codelabs/build-youtube-summarizer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5iquCsG3fU - https://www.reddit.com/r/lexfridman/comments/1beyzfq/gemini_can_summarize_youtube_videos_in_seconds_how/ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjtI64uEU8w&pp=0gcJCdgAo7VqN5tD - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39367264 - https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/samples/googlegenaisdk-textgen-with-youtube-video - https://dev.to/proflead/how-to-summarize-youtube-videos-using-gemini-chatgpt-claude-and-perplexity-in-2024-1732