Many social media and entertainment platforms have recently embraced artificial intelligence (AI) as a means to enhance their user experience. In late February, music streaming service Spotify also joined this frenzy, debuting an AI DJ.
“To create the DJ we reimagined the way users listen on Spotify,” the company’s website reads. “The DJ knows you and your music taste so well that it will scan the latest releases we know you’ll like, or take you back to that nostalgic playlist you had on repeat last year.”
The DJ is voiced by Xavier “X” Jernigan, the director and head of cultural partnerships at Spotify and previous host of “The Get Up” podcast.
This new feature is especially beneficial to indecisive listeners, as X provides listeners with “A mix of current go-to’s, old favorites, and some new discoveries you haven’t heard yet.” It also helps avoid the repetition of songs, which can become common when users shuffle their regular playlists.
In addition, in between the music sets, X gives commentary, offers trivia facts and tells users what types of songs they will be hearing next. This presents an experience similar to listening to a human DJ or tuning into the radio.
The music streaming service utilizes OpenAI—the company that created the AI chatbot ChatGPT—technology and its own personalization resources to auto-generate the playlists. In addition, based on the genres of music users like, this technology will find similar songs that have never been played on the account.
To access the DJ, tap “music” in the top left corner on the home screen of the Spotify app. Next, hit play on the DJ card, and AI will take over the rest of the experience. If users do not like X’s selection, they can tap on the DJ button in the bottom right corner of the screen to hear a new mix.
Unfortunately, the DJ has been missing from some users’ apps even when Spotify is fully updated, but the bugs are reportedly being worked out on Apple IOS.
The DJ adds to Spotify’s increasing efforts to create a personalized experience for its users, similar to its widely popular annual Wrapped campaign.
“At Spotify we’re uniquely positioned to transform audio. We’re always looking for innovative new ways to improve our users’ listening experiences to meet their needs—so stay tuned for more,” the website says, alluding that more additions are coming to the music streaming service.
