YouTube Shorts launches an AI-powered avatar cloning feature that allows creators to generate digital versions of themselves that look and sound realistic, which can be inserted into existing videos or used to create entirely new Shorts content. The rollout, hinted at earlier in 2026, comes as YouTube frames avatars as a safer and more secure approach to AI implementation. However, the launch highlights YouTube's complicated relationship with AI-generated content, as the platform simultaneously adds more generative AI features while struggling to contain AI slop, deepfake scams, and impersonations across its service.
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