New YouTube Features 2026: Every Made on YouTube AI Tool for Creators

The new YouTube features unveiled at the annual Made on YouTube 2026 event (September 23, 2026, New York) are the hottest news in the YouTube world right now. This time YouTube didn’t just add a few buttons; it turned YouTube Studio into a full AI assistant that sits beside the creator from idea and editing to thumbnails, A/B testing and comment management. In this article we go through every major tool, say which ones are live now and which are “coming soon,” and, most importantly, what a Persian-speaking YouTuber should learn from these changes starting today.

📌 Also see the latest Shorts change: the new YouTube Shorts update and content originality.

Table of contents

• What was Made on YouTube 2026 and why does it matter?
• YouTube Studio with AI: your personal assistant
• Video A/B testing and dynamic thumbnails
• Conversational editing with Gemini in Shorts
• Shorts with seasons, and YouTube on TV
• New live and community features
• Protecting your face and voice from deepfakes
• Brands, partnerships and YouTube Shopping income
• Changes for viewers
• Summary table of the new YouTube features
• What should a Persian-speaking YouTuber do today?
• FAQ

What was Made on YouTube 2026 and why does it matter?

Made on YouTube is YouTube’s annual event for announcing creator tools. The 2026 edition was held on September 23 in New York, and in his official post YouTube CEO Neal Mohan said that more than 20 million videos are uploaded to YouTube every day and that YouTube’s job is to keep its technology one step ahead of how audiences create and watch.

The core message this year was clear: AI has moved from a side tool to the heart of YouTube Studio. Citing its own Generative AI trends report, YouTube said 72% of US video creators aged 14 to 44 used AI to make or edit video in the past year. The competition is no longer between those who use AI and those who don’t; it is between those who use it better.

YouTube Studio with AI: your personal assistant

YouTube says it has turned Studio into a “personal team” for the creator. The main tools in this area:

1. New Insights and Research sections

These two sections help you better understand past video performance and find Outlier videos, meaning videos that got several times their channel’s usual views. According to TechCrunch, a research feed has also been added to the Studio app that shows what kind of content is working on the platform right now so you can form your own take.

2. Feedback on a video draft

If you have a draft ready, Studio offers personalized suggestions on pacing, structure, storytelling and similar points, like a content consultant before you publish.

3. Thumbnails that match your channel’s style

Studio can create thumbnails consistent with your channel’s visual identity. Ask Studio can even review your older videos in the background, then suggest and test fresh thumbnails for them so old videos reach a new audience.

4. Ask Studio on mobile

Studio’s smart Q&A assistant (Ask Studio) is coming to iOS and Android apps, and in the future will also help respond to brand briefs and draft partnership pitches.

Video A/B testing and dynamic thumbnails

Title and thumbnail A/B testing has been officially available on YouTube since 2024 and, according to YouTube, creators have run more than 40 million experiments with it. Now two big next steps have been taken:

• Video A/B testing (coming soon): you can upload up to three different versions of the video itself so YouTube can measure which one holds attention best. The main use is comparing a video’s “hook” or opening.
• Dynamic thumbnails: instead of picking a single winner for everyone, YouTube shows the best of three options to different audience segments.

This means the first 30 seconds of a video matter more than ever. If audience retention is your problem, also read our guide to filling YouTube watch time, because anything that keeps viewers in the first minute directly affects watch time.

Conversational editing with Gemini in Shorts

YouTube had already brought Gemini AI to Shorts and the YouTube Create app and says hundreds of thousands of channels used it every day in August 2026 alone. The new tool is a conversational editing assistant:

• With a suggested prompt or your own text, a first-cut edit is created.
• As you continue the chat you get suggestions such as automatic removal of pauses, rearranging clips for better rhythm and syncing cuts to the music beat.
• At any moment you can go back and edit the timeline by hand.

For Shorts creators who publish at high volume, this tool can cut editing time dramatically, but taste and storytelling are still your job.

Shorts with seasons, and YouTube on TV

Shorts Series: seasons and episodes for Shorts

You can now arrange Shorts into seasons and episodes. Previously a viewer might land on episode eight of a series and have to dig through the whole channel to find episode one. This feature is great for mini-series, multi-part stories and short educational courses. If you already move viewers from one video to the next with playlists, cards and end screens, Shorts Series brings the same logic to Shorts.

YouTube on TV gets more serious

Kurt Wilms, YouTube’s senior product director, said that for more than half of YouTube’s top 100 creators, TV is the most-watched screen. So TV viewers will soon see creators’ posts and images and be able to comment with the remote. For you, this means long videos with good picture and sound quality become more valuable.

New live and community features

• Live Showdowns: two creators can merge their live streams into a friendly head-to-head competition.
• Simultaneous auto-dubbing in live: your live stream reaches audiences in other languages through real-time dubbing.
• Watch With for long videos: watching together and reacting live with your audience now also works for long-form videos.
• AI comment management (experimental and optional): this tool gradually learns your comment-moderation preferences and keeps the comments section in line with your channel’s vibe.
• Dedicated member spaces: new tools for closer connection with channel members.

Protecting your face and voice from deepfakes

As AI-generated video spreads, unauthorized use of creators’ faces and voices has become a serious threat. YouTube announced that Likeness Detection is coming to the mobile app so you can sign up, receive match alerts and take action right there. By the end of this year, speech voice detection will also be combined with face detection to improve match accuracy, an early step toward broader protection of creators’ voices.

Brands, partnerships and YouTube Shopping income

• YouTube Creator Partnerships helps creators get discovered and lets brands find them more easily.
• The YouTube Shopping affiliate program expands to 35 countries by the end of the year, with Amazon support added in international regions.
• Product tags automatically show local offers matched to the viewer’s country.

If you haven’t chosen your channel’s topic yet, remember that ad and affiliate income depends heavily on niche; our article on high-paying YouTube niches with the highest RPM will help.

Changes for viewers

• Custom Feeds: build a personal home feed with one sentence, for example “long documentaries for late at night.” First for US users on web, mobile and TV.
• GIF comments on videos and Shorts starting this fall.
• Group chat in YouTube’s built-in messenger (US, UK, Singapore, Brazil and several European countries).
• Ask YouTube for shopping: video suggestions with a product feature comparison table.
• Your podcast lineup in YouTube Music: a weekly personal audio preview of recommended podcasts.

Custom Feeds carries an important point for YouTube SEO: when a viewer builds a feed with a descriptive sentence, a clear, consistent channel topic raises your chance of appearing in those feeds.

Summary table of the new YouTube features

Feature	Who it’s for	Main use	Status
Draft feedback in Studio	Creator	Improve pacing and storytelling before publishing	Announced, staged rollout
Channel-style thumbnails	Creator	Fast thumbnails with a consistent visual identity	Announced, staged rollout
Dynamic thumbnails	Creator	Show the best option to each audience segment	Announced, staged rollout
Video A/B testing (3 versions)	Creator	Compare hooks and openings	Coming soon
Conversational editing with Gemini	Shorts creator	Quick editing with prompts	Shorts and YouTube Create
Shorts Series	Creator and viewer	Seasons and episodes for Shorts	Announced
Live Showdowns and live dubbing	Live streamer	Live competition and an international audience	Announced
AI comment management	Creator	Automatic comment moderation	Experimental, optional
Likeness detection on mobile + voice	Creator	Fighting deepfakes	Voice detection: by end of 2026
Custom Feeds	Viewer	Personal feed from one sentence	Coming soon, US first

What should a Persian-speaking YouTuber do today?

One thing honestly: many of these tools roll out in stages and usually reach US users first, and some monetization features such as the YouTube Partner Program and YouTube Shopping aren’t available to channels registered in Iran. But YouTube’s direction is clear, and you can align with it starting today:

1. Write two or three hooks for every video. When YouTube builds a three-version video test, it means the opening is the most important success variable. Even without the tool, test versions in Shorts.
2. Keep your thumbnail identity consistent. The “channel-style thumbnail” tool shows that the algorithm and audience recognize visual consistency: fixed colors, fonts and layout.
3. Turn Shorts into series. Multi-part content with a title and episode number pulls viewers into the next episode, and Shorts Series reinforces that habit.
4. Analyze competitors’ Outlier videos. What the Research section will do, you can do by hand: find videos that got several times their own channel’s average views. For ideas, our list of the best Iranian YouTubers is a good starting point.
5. Think global. Auto-dubbing (even in live) means the language barrier is fading. Take accurate subtitles and bilingual metadata seriously.
6. Protect your identity. If your face and voice are your channel’s brand, sign up for Likeness Detection as soon as you get access.

For step-by-step YouTube and AI tutorials, join the Telegram channel of the YouTube Academy by Shahryar.

FAQ

What are the most important new YouTube features in 2026?

AI feedback on video drafts, dynamic thumbnails, A/B testing of three video versions, conversational editing with Gemini, Shorts Series and face and voice likeness detection are the most important.

When will video A/B testing be available on YouTube?

YouTube announced it as “coming soon” without a specific date. With this tool you’ll be able to compare up to three versions of a video.

How are dynamic thumbnails different from thumbnail A/B testing?

In regular A/B testing one winner is picked for everyone; with dynamic thumbnails YouTube shows the best of three options to each audience segment separately.

Are these features available to Iranian users?

Most tools roll out in stages and some are US-only at first. Monetization features such as YouTube Shopping aren’t available to channels registered in Iran. It’s best to check the “Features” section in YouTube Studio regularly.

What is Shorts Series?

A feature that lets you organize Shorts into seasons and episodes so viewers can watch a series from episode one in order.

What do you think? Which of the new YouTube features will have the biggest impact on your channel? Tell us in the comments.

Sources

• YouTube Official Blog: Innovation for the YouTube Era (Made on YouTube 2026)
• YouTube Official Blog: New tools to power your creation journey
• TechCrunch: YouTube releases new AI features for creators within its Studio app
• 9to5Google: Custom Feeds, GIF comments and Your podcast lineup
• TheWrap: Shorts Series and TV updates