Video & Creative AI
YouTube Music adds conversational AI and podcast guides
TechCrunch AIhigh confidence
Why it matters
- →Conversational search becomes the standard interface for music discovery, reducing reliance on keyword matching.
- →Personalized audio summaries address podcast fatigue by curating content through generative narration.
- →Major platforms are rapidly integrating LLM-based interactions into consumer-facing media apps.
YouTube Music is rolling out two new AI-driven features: 'Ask Music' and 'Your Podcast Lineup.' Ask Music allows users to interact with the platform using natural language queries to create custom listening queues or explore artist details across its 300 million-song catalog. The podcast feature generates personalized audio guides that preview recommended shows based on listener history. These updates follow similar AI initiatives from competitors like Spotify and are scheduled for global release to YouTube Music and Premium subscribers.
Read originalMore from TechCrunch AI
© TechCrunch AIInvestment · $311M
Market & Regulationbusiness
Enveda raises $311M for AI drug discovery
Enveda’s $311 million Series E signals that the biotech market is betting heavily on nature-derived AI drugs. By doubling its valuation to $2 billion, investors are backing a strategy that hunts for medicines in plants and microbes rather than synthesizing them from scratch. With candidates already in clinical trials for skin conditions and GLP-1 weight loss maintenance, Enveda moves beyond theoretical promise into human testing. This funding validates the niche of using AI to decode complex natural compounds, a space where few players have reached this stage.
TechCrunch AI
© TechCrunch AIModels & Labsagents
ChatGPT mobile gets voice-based agentic Work tab
OpenAI is finally bringing its desktop 'Work' capabilities to the ChatGPT mobile app, allowing Plus and Pro users to trigger complex workflows like drafting documents or summarizing Slack messages via voice. This moves beyond simple chat into agentic territory, letting users build sites or access finances through richer text output generated from voice commands. While Anthropic has focused on merging interfaces, OpenAI keeps chat and workspaces separate but is closing the gap by enabling seamless handoff between mobile and desktop. The real shift here is making multi-step automation accessible via voice on a pocket device, not just typing on a keyboard.
TechCrunch AI
© TechCrunch AIGeneral AIother
YouTube launches AI-powered custom feeds
YouTube is finally letting users curate their own discovery streams using natural language prompts powered by Gemini. This moves beyond simple keyword filtering into semantic understanding, allowing for nuanced requests like 'relaxing commentary' or specific commute contexts. It aligns YouTube with Bluesky and Threads in the race to democratize feed curation, acknowledging that one-size-fits-all algorithms no longer satisfy diverse user intents. The feature pins these custom streams to the home tab without disrupting the main recommendation engine, offering a parallel layer of control over the platform's massive 20 billion-video library.
TechCrunch AI
More in Video & Creative AI
© The Verge Creator EconomyVideo & Creative AIvideo
YouTube launches autonomous AI agent for creator optimization
YouTube is shifting from passive analytics to active automation with a new background agent that monitors back catalogs and suggests thumbnail or title tweaks when topics trend. The platform now allows testing three distinct video versions—varying intros or structure—to let the algorithm pick the highest-performing cut, effectively outsourcing A/B testing to an autonomous system. While YouTube draws a line at AI-generated scripts or footage, this move automates the distribution mechanics that have long frustrated creators. It marks a transition where the platform doesn't just host content but actively manages its visibility.
The Verge Creator Economy
© Duncan RogoffVideo & Creative AIvideo
Higgsfield Plugin Brings GPT-6 Astra to After Effects
ChatGPT’s new Higgsfield plugin lets you generate editable motion graphics directly inside Adobe After Effects using GPT-6 Astra. Instead of just spitting out a video file, it builds structured projects with organized layers and keyframes that designers can actually tweak. This bridges the gap between generative AI and professional workflows, turning ChatGPT into a creative assistant rather than just a content generator. It’s a significant step for creatives who need speed without sacrificing control over their final assets.
Duncan Rogoff
© WIRED AIVideo & Creative AIwriting
AI Chatbots Fuel Custom Fiction Craze
AI chatbots are transforming how people engage with storytelling, offering a new avenue for creativity and exploration. Users like Petra Ferraz de Novaes are drawn to the spontaneity and freedom these tools provide, crafting narratives that range from fantasy to erotica without the constraints of traditional authorship. Despite controversies in the publishing world over AI-generated content, a dedicated group of users is embracing the technology to create personal and immersive stories. This trend suggests a shift in reader preferences, as AI fiction offers a unique form of entertainment that traditional literature may not fulfill. The ability to direct and iterate on stories in real-time is appealing to those who value customization and immediacy. As AI models improve, they may overcome current limitations in producing complex narratives, potentially reshaping the landscape of fiction.
WIRED AI