[Digital Today reporter Chi-gyu Hwang] YouTube has begun testing an expansion of its conversational AI feature to smart TVs, game consoles and streaming devices, TechCrunch reported on Feb. 19.

The conversational TV feature had previously been available only on mobile and the web. With the expansion to TVs, viewers can ask the AI questions while watching in the living room.

According to YouTube's support page, the feature is activated by clicking the 'Ask' button on the TV screen. The AI assistant suggests questions related to the video, and users can also ask their own questions by pressing the microphone button on the remote. For example, it provides immediate answers when viewers ask about ingredients in a cooking video or the background of lyrics in a music video. The feature currently supports English, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese and Korean for users aged 18 and over.

YouTube introduced the conversational AI feature in 2024 and has been expanding it in line with a recent rise in TV viewers. According to a Nielsen report in April 2025, YouTube accounted for 12.4 percent of U.S. TV viewing time, surpassing Disney and Netflix.

Amazon also introduced conversational AI 'Alexa+' on Fire TV to strengthen personalized recommendations and movie information features. Roku supports natural-language questions about movies and programs through an AI voice assistant, and Netflix is also testing an AI search feature.