Last month, Alphabet told the House Judiciary Committee that it would allow some creators who were banned from YouTube for spreading COVID-19 and election-related misinformation to come back to the platform. Now, the company is outlining how that process will work, though it's not clear exactly who will be provided that opportunity,YouTube says that beginning today it will give "some previously terminated creators" the ability to "request" a fresh channel in an effort the company is characterizing as a bid for "second chances" on the platform. The update doesn't reference its COVID-19 or election misinformation policies, which had come under fire from House Republicans. Instead, YouTube says that the "pilot program" will be available to some "qualified creators." It doesn't explain how it will determine who qualifies. Last month, far-right personalities Nick Fuentes and Alex Jones - both of whom were banned from YouTube years before the pandemic - attempted to rejoin YouTube after the letter was made public and were promptly removed."Our goal is to roll this out to creators who are eligible to apply over the coming months, and we appreciate the patience as we ramp up, carefully review requests, and learn as we go," the company wrote. "Not every type of channel termination will be eligible." Among the factors YouTube will consider are "whether the creator committed particularly severe or persistent violations of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, or whether the creator's on- or off-platform activity harmed or may continue to harm the YouTube community." People banned for copyright infringement won't be able to apply.All that is still remarkably vague compared to the language Alphabet used in its letter to the House Judiciary Committee last month. "YouTube will provide an opportunity for all creators to rejoin the platform if the Company terminated their channels for repeated violations of COVID-19 and elections integrity policies that are no longer in effect," it said.Importantly, YouTube isn't giving previously banned creators access to their old channels and subscribers. Anyone who is let back on under the program will instead have the opportunity to create an entirely new channel, which means they'll have to rebuild their presence from scratch.

As part of an AI-focused reorganization, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan told employees that it will offer voluntary buyouts, according to an internal company memo. At the same time, he emphasized that there would be no specific role eliminations as part of new structure."Looking to the future, the next frontier for YouTube is AI, which has the potential to transform every part of the platform," Mohan wrote. "We also understand some of you may be ready for a new challenge, so we've decided now is the right time to offer a voluntary exit Program."The restructuring is designed to help YouTube focus on fast-growing areas like AI while "driving faster decision making and execution," the memo states. To that end, the platform is organizing into three separate product organizations: viewer products, creator and community products, and subscription products.Viewer products will focus on the viewer experience by making improvements to search & discovery, engagement, the living room experience and "our foundation of responsibility." Creator and community products, meanwhile, is "driving creation through genAI tools, Shorts, Live and creator support. Subscription products, as you'd expect, will operate around subscription growth across Music, Premium and OTT (YouTube TV) platforms.Mohan noted that YouTube has been the number one streamer in the US for the last two years. So far, it has signed up 125 million Premium and Music subscribers, along with 8 million YouTube TV subs. The platform has paid out $100 billion to its ecosystem (presumably, creators and recording artists).YouTube isn't the only tech giant reducing headcount while citing AI as an impetus. Amazon recently announced that it had laid off 14,000 people, while citing the need to be "lean" due to transformative technology like AI. Meanwhile, YouTube parent Alphabet announced its first-ever $100 billion quarter, largely on the strength of cloud services and search.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/youtube-is-offering-employees-buyouts-as-part-of-an-ai-focused-reorganization-120047466.html?src=rss