YouTube will test Ask YouTube inside the Shorts player, the company confirmed on Oct. 12, extending its AI question-and-answer feature to short-form video for the first time. The test is English only, limited to viewers 18 and older, and runs across desktop, TV, and mobile.

The announcement came in a Creator Insider video posted the same day. YouTube wrote that viewers "will soon be able to use Ask YouTube directly from the watch page while watching Shorts and live streams."

What does the test include?

Participants will see a sparkle icon on select Shorts. Tapping it opens pre-populated prompts or a free-form question box. The free-form prompts — questions viewers write themselves — route to Ask YouTube.

The video's description spells out the limits plainly: "It's English only, 18 and older only, but if you're part of the experiment, you'll be able to tap or select the sparkle icon on select Shorts and try out pre-populated prompts or ask questions to get details about the Short on your screen."

The same description also flags new mobile feeds for Android and iOS. These will let viewers "discover similar creators, find related shorts, and explore topics based on your watch history."

In short: two experiments in one announcement, an AI assistant inside the player and a new discovery surface.

How big is Ask YouTube already?

The Shorts test builds on an existing feature. Ask YouTube already appears as a button below selected videos on the watch page. Its help page lists support for many languages and countries, and it's open to signed-in users aged 13 and older — or the applicable age in their country — on Android, iOS, computers, and smart TVs.

The usage number is the striking part. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in Q2 earnings remarks that over 140 million users engaged with Ask YouTube on the watch page in June alone. That's roughly the population of Russia using one video Q&A feature in a single month.

The Shorts version tightens the existing rules. It drops the language list to English only and raises the minimum age from 13 to 18.

Is this the same as Ask YouTube in search?

No, and the distinction matters. The watch-page feature is separate from the search version of Ask YouTube, as Search Engine Journal reported in September. YouTube's Oct. 12 post says the search version is coming to mobile devices, which would make it available to U.S. viewers across web, mobile, and TVs.

The Creator Insider description doesn't say where free-form prompts open within Ask YouTube. That detail is still unclear.

What should creators watch?

Several questions remain open. The description doesn't explain how YouTube chooses the "select Shorts" that get the feature, how the new feeds pick their suggestions, or whether creators get any controls over the answers shown next to their content.

Neither the Oct. 12 post nor the Creator Insider description gives a start date or a country list. Both only say Shorts support is "on its way soon."

For creators, the practical near-term impact is likely discovery. The new Android and iOS feeds add another surface where related Shorts and similar creators can surface — another algorithmic path that YouTube has not yet documented.

Creators can check the watch-page help page for details as the experiment begins. Watch for the rollout date, the country list, and any creator controls — those three gaps are the story from here.