Stepify is a new online service that uses AI to create summaries of YouTube videos. The core idea behind the service is to create step-by-step instructions of tutorial or lecture videos. While that may be the intended use, it works with other types of videos as well:
- Top list videos: say, the top 50 music videos of the 90s, top 100 Sony PlayStation games of all time, or the top action movies of 2024.
- Hands-on videos, such as cooking videos or repair videos.
- News videos: get summaries of news videos. This works for financial reports and other types of reports as well.
How Stepify works
Stepify is simple to use. Just open the website of the service and paste a video URL into the field. It takes just a brief moment to get a summary of it.
The layout of the summary resembles a step-by-step guide, even if it is not one. This is not much a problem, as you can easily ignore the structure and extract the information that you want from the summary.
Several tests went surprisingly well. When tasked to create a summary of a top 25 Sega Saturn games video, Stepify did return all 25 mentioned titles.
Not only that, it also revealed why each game has been picked by the creator of the video.
Tests with other top lists and tutorial videos worked really well.
Some tests returned less useful information. When tasked to summarize financial videos, Stepify did return core information, but not all relevant information.
While that may still be okay for a first overview, considering that you get it in a matter of seconds, it is necessary to look up additional information for the full picture.
The developer explains on Hacker News that Stepify gets the transcript from an API and passes it on to GPT.
Closing Words
Stepify is an interesting service. It is free to use and works fast, even for longer videos. While it is still necessary to verify the returned information, it may help users get a quick overview of the content of videos.
It may also be useful to users who prefer text-based information over video.