Tech Desk 
Jan 22, 2026
YouTube has officially announced that Shorts viewers will soon see artificial intelligence (AI) versions of their favourite creators when scrolling through the platform.
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said that creators will soon be able to make Shorts using their own likeness.In his annual letter, Mohan said: “This year you’ll be able to create a Short using your own likeness, produce games with a simple text prompt, and experiment with music. Throughout this evolution, AI will remain a tool for expression, not a replacement.”
The new capability will join the YouTube’s current AI tools for Shorts, including the ability to generate AI clips, AI stickers, AI auto-dubbing, and more. YouTube will also give creators more control with new tools to manage the use of their likeness in AI-generated content.
“Over the past 20 years, we’ve learned not to impose any preconceived notions on the creator ecosystem,” Mohan wrote. “Today, once-odd trends like ASMR and watching other people play video games are mainstream hits. But with this openness comes a responsibility to maintain the high quality viewing experience that people want. To reduce the spread of low quality AI content, we’re actively building on our established systems that have been very successful in combatting spam and clickbait, and reducing the spread of low quality, repetitive content.”
While YouTube will allow creators to feature their own likeness in their videos, the Google-owned platform recently launched technology to prevent others from using it.
Last October, YouTube rolled out likeness-detection technology to eligible creators to identify AI-generated content featuring the likeness of creators, such as their face and voice. Creators can then request the removal of AI-generated content.
