Google has introduced an updated version of SmartReply built for YouTube, which will enable creators reply faster with their fans in the comments.
The feature is being rolled out to YouTube Studio, the online dashboard creators use to manage ther YouTube presence, check their stats, grow their channels and engage their fans. From Youtube Studio’s comments section, creators can view and respond to comments from across their channels.
According to Google, SmartReply aims to support those creators with a large following, especially since replying to comments can be a huge task to them.
The feature will enable then to click one of the suggested replies to respond to comments instead of manually typing out all their replies. For instance, if a fan asks about what’s to come next, the SmartReply feature may propose a response like “Thank you!” or “More to come!”
Different from the SamrtReply feature designed for email, where the technology has to process words and short phrases, the updated version of SamrtReply set for YouTube has also to be able to handle a more varied set of content – such as ASCII, emoji or language switching, the firm notes. YouTube commenters also often post using abbreviated words, slang and inconsistent use of punctuation. This was the major hurdle of implementing it for YouTube.
In a post on its Google AI blog, the California based tech company explained how it bypassed these and other technical barriers.
Further, Google note that it needed a system where SamrtReply only made suggestions when it’s highly likely the creator would want to reply to the comment and when the feature is able to suggest a sensible response. This required training the system to identify which comments should trigger the feature.
Currently, SmartReply is being made available for both English and Spanish comments. According to Google this is the first cross-lingual and character byte-based version of technology.
As a result of the approach SmartReply is currently using, the firm hopes it will be in a position to make the feature available to other additional languages.
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