Can you use AI to make YouTube videos?

AI can help with almost every stage of making a video: scripts, outlines, thumbnails, voiceovers, editing, even generated footage. YouTube allows all of it, and that goes for a small business putting together a short promo as much as for someone starting a channel in their spare room.

Two YouTube policies matter, though, and a third set of rules applies if your promo runs as an ad. The first policy is about disclosing realistic synthetic content. The second is about monetisation, and it is aimed squarely at mass-produced, templated videos. Get those right and you are mostly fine. Ignore them and you risk labels applied for you, removed content or, if you are earning, your place in the YouTube Partner Program.

How to do it well

Use AI for the parts YouTube treats as production help: the outline, a script draft, title ideas, the thumbnail and captions. YouTube says none of that needs disclosing, and the same goes for cloning your own voice for voiceovers or dubs, sharpening footage or repairing audio.

Turn these bullet points into a 60-second script with a hook, three points
and a close, in British English.
[your bullet points]

Read what comes back and rewrite the bits that do not sound like you.

Then put your own knowledge, footage or face in it. That is what separates you from the templated channels YouTube is filtering out of monetisation. A generic script read over stock-looking visuals has nothing of you in it. A video where you explain what you know, or show your actual shop, workshop or product, has something a template cannot copy.

If any shot is realistic and AI-generated, tick “AI use”. That means shots showing a real place, a real person or an event. YouTube’s own example is AI-generated extra footage of a real place in a promotional travel video. If you run a B&B and generate a sunset over the real harbour that you never filmed, that counts. The setting is in YouTube Studio, in the Attributes section: select Yes. Disclosing will not limit the video’s audience or its eligibility to earn money, so there is no reason to hide it.

Never make a real person appear to say something they did not, whether that is a customer, a member of staff or anyone else. For more on voices, see Can you use AI to copy someone’s voice?.

Use only music and footage you own or have a licence for. If you want original music, see Can you use AI to make music?.

For a business promo, keep your claims to facts you can back up. AI will happily write glowing lines you cannot prove, so you are the one who has to check them.

Rules and risks

Disclosure. YouTube requires creators to disclose when they use AI to meaningfully alter or generate photorealistic content: making a real person appear to say or do something they did not, altering footage of a real event or place, or generating a realistic scene that did not occur. Non-realistic content, minor aesthetic edits and production help do not need disclosing. YouTube may also label videos itself, for example content made with its own AI tools, content its systems detect as AI-generated, or content carrying C2PA metadata. Creators who consistently fail to disclose may have labels applied for them, content removed, or be suspended from the YouTube Partner Program.

Monetisation. On 15 July 2025 YouTube renamed its “repetitious content” policy “inauthentic content” and clarified that it covers repetitive or mass-produced content. Content that cannot be monetised includes AI-generated videos made with generic or unoriginal templates that give the impression of mass production without the creator’s original insights, and image slideshows or scrolling text with minimal narrative. Reused content without significant original commentary or modification does not qualify either.

Copyright. GOV.UK explains that copyright protects original works automatically, including music and film recordings, and stops people distributing copies or playing the work in public without permission. The music, clips and images in your video need to be yours or licensed.

Promos used as ads. If your promo runs as an ad, the CAP Code applies. The ASA says the code is media-neutral, so it covers ads however they were made, and the advertiser stays primarily responsible even when a campaign is generated by automated tools. See Can you use AI to advertise my business? for more.

This is general information, not legal advice.