YouTube continues to be a dominant force in advertising and entertainment, but the disruption from generative artificial intelligence spares no company.
In a memo to staff Wednesday, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan cited the disruption and opportunity of AI as a reason to restructure the video platform, with the executive creating a new reporting structure for the company’s product teams, and rolling out a voluntary employee buyout program, offering severance to any YouTubers that may want to leave the company.
A source notes that no roles are being eliminated as part of the changes, though voluntary separation programs can sometimes serve as a prelude to cuts later on. The decision to offer buyouts comes the same week that Amazon announced plans to reduce its workforce by 14,000 jobs, citing AI disruption.
Going forward YouTube will have three product organizations, with the top executive from each reporting directly to Mohan.
Subscription products will be led by Christian Oestlien and include oversight of YouTube TV, YouTube Premium, YouTube Music, Primetime Channels and other business lines; Viewer products, led by Johanna Voolich, which will focus on the YouTube mobile and living room apps, trust & safety, YouTube Kids, search infrastructure and other key areas; and creator and community products, which will be focused on supporting creators, including through YouTube Shorts and its generative AI tools. YouTube is expected to bring in a new leader for that organization.
In his memo, Mohan cited AI as the “next frontier” for YouTube. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter for this month’s cover story about YouTube, Mohan explained why he thinks AI will ultimately work in service of human creators.
“I do think creation is an area where AI will help enormously by making the process easier, by making it more efficient faster, and also by making it more powerful. In that sense, my sort of vision around AI is it’s AI in service of human creativity, it really empowers human creativity,” Mohan said. “If you’re working in the scripted space and you need a particular background or you have a particular sequence, well AI can help you in multiple ways. It can help you ideate about what that script should be. It can help you create the background. It can help you — as you saw last week — actually add content to the video that you’ve created right the camera.
The YouTube chief added, “I think we are in the very early days of those types of possibilities, and my hope is that it will create a lot more opportunity for that entire supply chain of creation, not just the creators at the top.”