The competition to enhance conversational AI for home entertainment is intensifying, with YouTube now extending its experimental tool to smart televisions, gaming consoles, and streaming devices. Previously accessible only on mobile and web platforms, this feature places conversational AI directly onto the biggest screen in the house, enabling viewers to inquire about video content without interrupting their watch session.

Eligible users can activate the AI assistant by selecting the “Ask” button on their TV interface. The tool provides suggested questions tailored to the video, or viewers can use their remote’s microphone to ask any related query. For example, they might request details about cooking ingredients in a tutorial or the story behind a song’s lyrics, receiving immediate answers without pausing or exiting the app.

Currently, this functionality is being offered to a limited group of users aged 18 and older, with support for English, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean. YouTube originally introduced this conversational AI feature in 2024 to allow for deeper content exploration. Its expansion to televisions aligns with growing viewership trends, as more Americans now watch YouTube on TV than ever before. An April 2025 Nielsen report noted that YouTube represented 12.4% of total television audience time, exceeding the share of major services like Disney and Netflix.

Other firms are also progressing with their own conversational AI systems. Amazon has released Alexa+ on Fire TV devices, which supports natural dialogue and can provide personalized content suggestions, locate specific movie scenes, or answer questions about actors and filming locations. Similarly, Roku has upgraded its AI voice assistant to respond to open-ended queries about films and series, such as “What’s this movie about?” or “How scary is it?” Netflix is experimenting with an AI search experience as well.

YouTube has pursued additional AI enhancements for TV, including a recently introduced capability that automatically upscales lower-resolution uploads to full HD. The platform continues to roll out other AI tools, like a comment summarizer to help viewers quickly grasp discussion highlights and an AI-powered search results carousel.

In January, the company revealed that creators will soon be able to produce Shorts using AI-generated versions of their own likeness. Just last week, YouTube also debuted a dedicated app for the Apple Vision Pro, allowing users to enjoy content on a virtual theater-sized screen within an immersive setting.