New Chrome extension from Lays automatically turns on YouTube subtitles when eating snacks

An AI-powered Google Chrome extension now automatically turns on YouTube subtitles when you’re eating snacks. Early this month, potato chip company Lays partnered with Vietnam-based design studio Bliss Interactive and ad agency Happiness Saigon launched an extension that uses artificial intelligence to pick up on noises created by munching on snacks. This then turns on the YouTube subtitles.

Have you ever tried eating potato chips while watching a video? Sometimes you can barely hear anything with all of the noise it creates. This is especially considering Lays’ claim to have the crispiest chip in the world, people might be discouraged from eating it while watching videos.

It was with this in mind that the company had Bliss Interactive develop the extension. With this new program, gone are the days of touching your laptop’s volume controls with greasy, crumb-covered fingers to adjust the volume.

According to the extension’s designers at Bliss, they were able to develop the program by recording a whopping 178 hours of people snacking on potato chips. To make sure their data was as accurate as possible, the team even went so far as to include individuals all over the world, just in case people living in certain areas chewed differently than others did.

Using the audio clips they gathered, the team was able to train an AI model to pick up on such sounds. When users install the extension on their Chrome app and grant it access to their YouTube tab, the extension will pick up on the crunching sounds and switch on YouTube subtitles for the video they are watching.

While the extension’s name is Crispy Subtitles from Lay’s user don’t actually need to be eating chips and crisps from Lay’s. Other crunchy snacks work fine, too. If the sound they produce is similar to that of when you are munching on a potato chip, the extension gets triggered and turns on. This should mean that potato chips from a different brand, and other types of crisps, crackers, and some types of nuts will work with the extension.

This comes as good news for some as millions of people across the globe have established a new daily routine because of the ongoing pandemic. Watching videos while snacking might just be a big part of their day, and this new extension definitely makes it all the more convenient for them to do just that. While this may not be a life-changing invention, it certainly enhances the experience of users who want to snack on something crunchy while watching YouTube videos. It is now much easier to lounge around, watch videos, and eat Lay’s products, which we’re pretty sure is what Lay’s end goal is.

After all, since the pandemic began, Lay’s claimed that it has experienced a boost in sales. In a study by YouGov, the number of consumers who are more likely to choose Lay’s as a snack rose by about 35% during the first few months of the pandemic. Purchase intent for potato chips, in general, has also gone up, so that’s good news for those who are in that industry.

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