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Paperium
Paperium

Posted on • Originally published at paperium.net

VideoAgentTrek: Computer Use Pretraining from Unlabeled Videos

How YouTube Tutorials Are Teaching Computers to Use Apps

Ever wondered how a computer could learn to click, type, and navigate just by watching videos? Researchers have discovered a clever way to turn millions of free YouTube screen‑recordings into a massive teaching library for AI assistants.
Instead of paying people to label every mouse click, the new system watches the videos, spots where a button is pressed or text is typed, and writes down the exact coordinates—just like a child learns by copying a parent’s actions.
Imagine a kid learning to bake by watching cooking shows; the kid picks up the steps without anyone writing a recipe for them.
This “watch‑and‑learn” pipeline generated over a million real‑world computer steps, boosting the AI’s success rate on everyday tasks by more than 70 %.
This breakthrough means smarter digital helpers that can set up appointments, fill forms, or troubleshoot software without costly manual training.
It’s an important step toward making technology feel more intuitive and accessible for everyone.
The next time you watch a tutorial, remember—you might just be teaching the future of smart assistants.
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VideoAgentTrek: Computer Use Pretraining from Unlabeled Videos

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