Use your YouTube videos with Alo AI
Add YouTube videos to posts, lessons and your page, use one as a cover, and let Alo AI watch one of your videos to write from it.
Written By AloPortal
Last updated About 1 hour ago
Your YouTube videos can live on your portal without uploading anything. Add them to posts, lessons and your page by their link, use one as a cover, or let Alo AI watch one of your videos and write from it.
✨ Quick answer: on the Creator side, open Alo AI and type /youtube. Pick one of your videos and choose what to do with it. Or paste any YouTube link in the chat and Alo AI adds it for you.
🎬 What you can do
When your YouTube channel is connected, every picker shows Your YouTube videos first, with a search box. You can also paste a link to any public YouTube video, yours or someone else's. Videos play with YouTube's own player.
✅ Good to know: nothing is uploaded or copied. The video stays on YouTube, and a YouTube cover shows the video's thumbnail with a small YouTube label. If a post or course also has an uploaded cover image, the image is the one that shows.
🛠️ Use /youtube in the Alo AI chat
Open Alo AI
On the Creator side, open Alo AI: in Portal designer, click Build with Alo under the phone preview (on a phone, tap Alo AI in the bottom bar).
Send /youtube
Type / in the message box and choose /youtube, then send it. Alo AI shows Your YouTube videos.
Choose what to do
Under a video, choose what to do. On the Portal tab you'll see Add to my page, Embed in a post and Use as cover. On Posts: Embed in a post and Use as cover. On Courses: Add to a lesson and Use as course cover. If your channel is connected with Google, you'll also see Watch and write a post (on Courses, Watch and write, which writes the lesson you have open, or a post if none is open). Opening the picker uses no credits.
Review what Alo AI made
Review what Alo AI made. Like everything it does, it's a draft until you save or publish it.
Type /youtube followed by a link, or paste a YouTube link on its own, and Alo AI embeds that video. Short videos are marked Short and play in a tall frame.
⚠️ Heads up: Alo AI never asks you to download or upload a YouTube video. It always adds it by its link.
👀 Let Alo AI watch one of your videos
Alo AI can watch a public video from your own channel: what's said and what's on screen. Then it can write a post or a lesson from it, and it adds the video near the top unless you say otherwise. Watching is done with Google's Gemini.
🔔 Note: watching needs your channel connected by signing in with Google. If you connected earlier by pasting your channel link, disconnect in Settings → Connectors and connect again with Google, and the watch buttons appear.
Ask Alo AI to watch
Ask Alo AI to watch a video, choose Watch and write a post under a video in the chat, or click Use with Alo next to a video in Settings → Connectors.
Check the credit estimate
A card asks Watch this video with Alo AI? and shows the video's length and an estimate of the credits it needs.
Click Watch video
Click Watch video to go ahead, or Not now to skip it. Nothing is used until you click Watch video.
What it costs: you're charged what the watch actually took, which is usually less than the estimate. If it fails, it costs nothing.
Free for 7 days: asking about the same video again within 7 days uses no credits.
Length: there's a limit on how long a video Alo AI can watch in one go. See Plan limits. A longer video can still be added by its link.
Videos it can't watch: unlisted, private and live videos, and videos still processing on YouTube. Someone else's video can be added by its link, but not watched.
🔒 Your data
Alo AI keeps what it learned from a video for 7 days at most.
When you disconnect YouTube in Settings → Connectors, we delete what Alo AI learned from watching your videos, along with the rest of the YouTube data we keep. Nothing on YouTube is deleted, and posts you already made stay as they are.
❓ Questions
Does adding a YouTube video use credits?
Does adding a YouTube video use credits?
Not when you add it yourself in the editor or a Video block. Asking Alo AI to do it uses a few credits, like any request. Watching a video uses more, and you approve it first. See Alo AI credits and top-ups.
The picker says a video is private. What do I do?
The picker says a video is private. What do I do?
A private video plays for nobody but you. On YouTube, make it unlisted or public, then pick it again.
The picker says embedding is off.
The picker says embedding is off.
The video doesn't allow playing on other sites. Turn on embedding in that video's settings on YouTube.
Do I need to connect YouTube to add a video?
Do I need to connect YouTube to add a video?
No. You can always paste a link. Connecting just lists your own videos first so you don't have to look for links.
🔗 Related
🆘 Need a hand?
Message us from the app: click Help & feedback at the bottom of the left sidebar. On a phone, tap the menu at the top-left first. We'll help you out.
Still need help? Ask the team