AI Built A YouTube Channel That Runs on Autopilot!

Introduction

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create an automated YouTube Shorts channel using AI tools and Zapier. This guide will walk you through the setup process, from topic discovery to video publishing, enabling you to run your channel on autopilot without any coding experience.

Step 1: Build the AI Researcher in Zapier

To start automating your YouTube channel, you'll first need to set up an AI researcher in Zapier. This will help you find trending topics for your videos.

1. Sign up for Zapier if you don't have an account.
2. Create a new Zap:
   • Choose a trigger that activates the workflow (e.g., scheduled time to run daily).
3. Integrate SerpApi:
   • Use SerpApi to scrape trending topics from Google.
   • Set up the API key in your Zapier account.
4. Use Google Trends:
   • Connect Google Trends to identify what’s currently popular.
   • Filter results based on your niche.

Step 2: Filter Trending Topics

Once you have the data from SerpApi and Google Trends, you need to filter it to ensure you're selecting the best topics.

1. Create filters in Zapier:
   • Set conditions for what constitutes a “trending” topic (e.g., number of searches).
2. Use a filter step to narrow down the topics:
   • Only keep those that meet your criteria for popularity.

Step 3: Use Perplexity AI for Real-Time Trend Information

To get the latest insights on your chosen topics, integrate Perplexity AI.

1. Connect Perplexity AI to your Zap:
   • Use it to gather real-time data and insights on the topics.
2. Send the data back to Zapier:
   • This will allow you to continuously update your topic list.

Step 4: Scriptwriting with Anthropic Claude

Next, you will use AI to write scripts for your videos.

1. Integrate Anthropic Claude in your Zap:
   • Set it up to take the filtered topics as input.
2. Generate scripts automatically:
   • Create a text template for the script format you want.
   • Pass the topic to Claude for script generation.

Step 5: Add Title, Description, and Tags Using AI

Enhance your video’s metadata by adding a title, description, and tags.

1. Set up additional steps in Zapier:
   • Use AI to generate catchy titles based on the script.
   • Automatically create a video description and relevant tags.

Step 6: Write Data to Google Sheets

Keep track of your videos and their details by writing everything to Google Sheets.

1. Add a Google Sheets step in your Zap:
   • Create a new row for each video with the title, description, tags, and script.
2. Ensure all data is captured for easy management.

Step 7: Build the AI Creator in Zapier

Now, set up the AI creator to create videos from the scripts.

1. Integrate HeyGen:
   • Use HeyGen to generate AI avatar videos based on the scripts.
2. Configure video creation:
   • Set parameters for the avatar and video style.

Step 8: Fix HeyGen Failures with Zapier Code

Sometimes, you may encounter issues with video generation. Here’s how to handle them.

1. Add a code step in Zapier:
   • Write a small script to catch errors when HeyGen fails.
   • Log errors to a separate Google Sheet or send alerts.

Step 9: Build the AI Publisher in Zapier

Finally, automate the publishing of your videos to YouTube.

1. Integrate YouTube in Zapier:
   • Set up a step to upload videos automatically.
2. Fill in the metadata:
   • Ensure the title, description, and tags from earlier steps are included.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can successfully set up a YouTube Shorts channel that runs on autopilot using AI and Zapier. This method allows you to focus on content strategy while automation handles the routine tasks. Next, consider testing your setup with a few topics to see how well it performs and make adjustments as needed to optimize your channel's success.