Spotify recently debuted a new AI-powered DJ companion to its music streaming platform that will create personalised playlists for listeners based on your listening data. The platform already does that with its many algorithmically generated playlists like Discovery Weekly or Release Radar. But those playlists don’t talk back to you. That’s where the ‘AI’ side of DJ comes in.
A Spotify DJ in your pocket
Introducing DJ ✨ An entirely new way to play your @Spotify, powered by AI. Now rolling out to Premium users in the U.S. and Canada. Head to Spotify now to meet your DJ. pic.twitter.com/sbQr8JrrmF
— Spotify News (@SpotifyNews) February 22, 2023
The platform already offers a ton of personalisation tools and with the recent explosion of AI into the mainstream, it was always a case of ‘when’, not ‘if’ generative models, like the one behind ChatGPT, would make their way into other services. Spotify apparently saw this coming.
In June last year, the company acquired Sonantic, an AI voice platform. A fancy text-to-speech platform, essentially. That acquisition has allowed it to build its own voice model, using the vocal cords of the company’s own head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan.
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Spotify’s DJ is designed to “deliver a curated lineup of music alongside commentary around the tracks and artists [it] think[s] you’ll like.” But that sounds less like a charismatic DJ, and more like the music know-it-all of the friend group that loves pointing out which specific synthesizer was used. Especially when no one asked.
Most folks will have to wait a while before they’re able to try the AI jockey out. It’s currently only available through a beta rollout to Spotify Premium users in the US and Canada. Great. Let those guinea pigs testers iron out any bugs and AI hiccups before it comes to the rest of us.