Ask AI and Bulk Summaries
How to ask a video questions, how to summarize a whole playlist or a YouTube search in one run, and what to do when either one stops.
There's no search box yet. Pick a topic from the help list on this page, or open all help topics for a one-line guide to each. If your question isn't covered, email us and a person will answer.
Ask a video a question
- Open the video. Analyze it, or reopen it from History for free.
- Open the Ask AI tab. Click one of the suggested questions, or type your own.
- Check the answer. When a point comes from a specific moment, the answer gives a time like [02:15]. It is plain text, not a link, so move the player there yourself, or click the nearest chapter.
Ask AI doesn't read the whole transcript for each question. It picks the five short sections that share the most words with your question, so the way you word it matters:
- Use the speaker's words. "cost" won't find "price", and "job" won't find "jobs". If you miss, search the transcript and reuse the wording you find there.
- Skip very short terms. Words of one or two letters, like "AI", are ignored.
- Ask in the language of the transcript. The reply still comes in your language.
- Use the Summary tab for the big picture. "What is the main argument?" reads only five sections. The summary is built from the whole transcript.
The chat isn't saved. In the web app it clears when you switch tabs or load another video, and in the extension when you load another video or close the side panel. Copy anything you want to keep.
Summarize a playlist or a search
- Open Bulk Summaries. It is in the web app's sidebar. Pick your summary language from the menu beside the link box.
- Paste the right link. For a playlist, use the link that starts youtube.com/playlist?list=. For a search, search on YouTube and copy the results page link, the one with search_query in it. Click Find videos.
- Pick the videos. The list shows each title, channel and length, with the first ten ticked. Use the buttons for the first 5, 10, 25 or all, or tick by hand. Export list saves them all as a CSV file.
- Choose a mode. One combined summary blends the videos into one piece. A summary per video keeps them apart.
- Run it and keep the tab open. You'll see Downloading transcripts, then Analyzing all transcripts, then Writing the summary.
- Read, ask, export. With two or more videos, a best pick comes first, then the Summary, Transcripts and Ask AI tabs. Ask AI now covers the whole batch and is asked to name the video each point came from. The run is saved to History.
In the Chrome extension the same feature is called Super Search. Switch the panel to Super Search, or use the floating button that appears on YouTube search and playlist pages.
A playlist loads its first 50 videos and a search page its top 20. The combined summary shares one reading budget across all the videos, so the more you pick, the less of each it reads: with 20 videos, roughly the first five minutes of each. Pick fewer videos, or a summary per video, when depth matters. Bulk runs have no chapters, and your custom summary instructions don't apply.
Limits by plan
- Free. Ask AI on a single video works while you are under your 3 videos in 30 days. It stops once the third is saved, even on that video, until the oldest drops out. Bulk Summaries: 1 run every 30 days, up to 20 videos, and that run doesn't use your 3 videos.
- Pro. Ask AI works until you reach 50 videos for the day, and comes back at your local midnight. Each video in a bulk run counts toward the same 50.
- Unlimited. No limit on either.
Questions are never counted. A bulk run counts once its transcripts are in, so closing the tab after that still uses it. A run that got no transcripts at all doesn't count.
If something goes wrong
- "That looks like a single video. Use Summarize Video for that." You pasted a watch link. A video playing inside a playlist counts as a single video too. Open the playlist itself and copy its link.
- "Not a YouTube search results or playlist URL." Channel pages and other YouTube pages aren't supported. To cover a channel, use one of its playlists, or search YouTube for the channel's name with your topic.
- A message about Watch Later. Watch Later is private to your YouTube account, so Bulk Summaries can't read it. The message says it works in the Chrome extension, but the extension can't read it either. Add those videos to a public playlist and paste that link instead.
- "No videos found on that page." The playlist is empty, or holds only private or deleted videos. A private playlist shows an error from YouTube instead. The playlist has to be public.
- A plans screen saying you've used your free bulk run. The next free run is 30 days after the last one. Pro and Unlimited include more.
- Some videos were skipped. A video with no usable transcript is left out, and Claras tells you how many were. Videos without captions go through AI transcription within your plan's length limit, and one that fails is skipped.
- Ask AI says nothing about a video you know covers the topic. In a bulk run, each answer reads ten sections across the batch. Ask again with that video's own wording, or open it on its own.
Still need help?
Questions, bug reports and billing all go to one inbox, and every message is read by a person. Write from the contact page and include your account email, the video link, and the exact message you saw. That makes it much faster to help.
More bulk runs and no daily cap come with the paid plans. See the plans.