YouTube announced updates to simplify thumbnail creation, introducing custom thumbnail options for YouTube Shorts and conversational AI-generated thumbnails for long-form videos within its Studio dashboard. The changes aim to help creators save production time while boosting viewer engagement and click-through rates. For Shorts, YouTube Partner Program creators can now upload fully custom thumbnail images, with plans to expand this capability to more creators in the coming months. Creators uploading Shorts via desktop can also choose from three automatically suggested thumbnail frames. For long-form videos, YouTube is bringing direct thumbnail generation into Ask Studio, where creators can use simple conversational prompts to generate a tailored thumbnail based on their video’s topic, then fine-tune details like colour schemes and layouts by chatting with the assistant.