How AI can summarize a YouTube video for you

We all may have a friend – or be that friend – whose long-form stories could use a summary to capture their main parts before people get impatient and dream of skipping them.

In the digital world, Eightify is designed to do just that. It is an artificial intelligence tool developed as a Google Chrome desktop extension and an app for iPhone and Android. Eightify aggregates YouTube videos to save viewers time – especially when people are navigating longer videos or rich educational content.

Launched in 2022 by Dmytro Tymoshenko, Eightify can extract digestible key points and highlights from video content. After a seven-day free trial, it costs $5/month (or $60 for the year). Competitors include TLDR YouTube and VidSummize, which offer similar AI-powered features for free, although with their own restrictions and limitations.

How to use Eightify to dissect videos

Step 1: You need an account to access Eightify's seven-day trial. (For once, no credit card is required.) Then paste a YouTube link into the chat box so that Eightify's AI tool can summarize the video. Eightify provides a guide for users who are unsure about the process.

Step 2: Wait a few seconds while the video insights and summary are generated. The Insights button allows you to view an overview of the video in different tones and formats. Use the focus buttons to change the text and choose from Insightful, Funny, Actionable, and Controversial options. There is also the option to change the format from a list to a Q&A and select a length: short, more detailed or automatic.

Step 3: The summary button provides a summary of the video, followed by a more detailed breakdown by timestamp. Both the Insight and Summary features use emojis to organize and categorize material.

Step 4: Finally, three other buttons allow you to change settings, copy text, or download (or share) the information provided.

Both the mobile and desktop versions of Eightify offer a manageable user experience, and as an AI tool, it's one of the easiest to navigate – thankfully there's no steep learning curve. Although there are various modifications in the tool's sections, there are no additional bells and whistles or pop-ups that affect its functionality.

Should you use Eightify to summarize your videos?

I can't say I'd stick with Eightify for $60 a year when free options like Glasp's YouTube Summarizer deliver similar results, but Eightify's ability to customize information for large amounts of content could be a selling point . Personally, I would like Eightify to work with companies and educational institutions as part of an employee or student discount. This could reduce costs while focusing on large groups of customers.

Outside of professional and educational environments—like the highly acclaimed YouTube video “Chicken Shop Date,” which I tested it with—the insights and summary buttons in Eightify may provide better insights than what you'd find on social media. (Plus, I've never seen X provide actionable insights that can serve as self-development homework.)

So maybe there's room for Eightify in your chain of desktop extensions or application folders. The answer depends on personal needs, frequency and reason for use – and whether another subscription you may have forgotten you were paying for is worth it.