Viewers can now edit automatically-generated captions on YouTube

There are some users who prefer captions while watching videos on video-streaming platforms. Thankfully, this capability is offered by YouTube in form of auto-generated captions on its videos for quite some time now. However, we can’t say anything about their accuracy. In an effort to address the problems with auto-generated captions, the company is experimenting with a new feature that will enable users to recommend corrections for captions on videos.

The details about the upcoming feature can be found on the YouTube Help page. It mentions a new viewer-suggested corrections feature. Currently, it is restricted to desktop version of the app as it is under early testing. It is only available for a selected English-language channels that have turned on the auto-captions.

When viewing a video that is part of the test, you have the option to provide edit suggestions by selecting the gear icon. Click on Subtitles and then click on Suggest caption corrections. It will open a transcript view. With the help of a pencil icon, users can mark the specific captions. Followed by this, they must submit their suggestions and confirm with a check mark. Viewers can also rate previous suggestions offered by others in order to avoid repetitions and encourage genuine ideas. In the transcript, viewers can select red captions to view additional recommendations and vote them up for greater visibility.

One thing to notice here is that suggested edits won’t be available on captions viewed by all users during the testing phase. Video creators can access them via the transcript panel. This will enable them to look over proposed modifications potentially apply them for viewers in the future. Currently, there are no details on when this feature will be made available to general public. Undoubtedly, this feature can be helpful for content containing strong accents, technical terms, or background noise which might confuse captioning systems.