YouTube Introduces AI Chatbot to Help Recover Hacked Channels

YouTube has introduced a new AI-powered tool designed to help creators recover their accounts if hacked. This AI referred to as a "troubleshooting tool" on Google's support page, is accessed through the YouTube Help Center. The chatbot guides users through a series of questions to help secure their compromised Google accounts and undo any unauthorized changes made to their YouTube channels.

Currently, the support assistant is only available in English and is limited to a select group of "certain creators." However, Google has plans to roll out this feature to all YouTube creators in the future.

The AI chatbot functions as a typical support assistant, with no unusual behaviour reported so far. It is designed to help with basic troubleshooting without any advanced AI capabilities that might raise concerns. Nevertheless, this new feature needs to address one of the major complaints of creators: the difficulty in reaching YouTube directly when problems occur. Typically, only the most prominent creators in YouTube's partner program have a YouTube page for speaking directly with a YouTube representative, leaving smaller channels to navigate help pages or automated support responses.

Introducing an AI chatbot might not satisfy creators hoping for more direct and improved communication from YouTube. This is particularly relevant given that even well-known creators like Linus Tech Tips have faced significant challenges in recovering hacked accounts, and smaller creators often struggle even more with similar issues.