YouTube recently announced YouTube Labs, its own version of Google Labs, which Google uses to test experimental features before potentially rolling them out to the public. One of the first features making an appearance on YouTube Labs is YouTube’s own version of Spotify’s AI DJ, which has already started popping up in the app for some users.
I actually encountered the new AI music hosts on YouTube Music this morning while jamming out to some music in the app on my Android phone. It proceeded to tell me about the inspiration behind Taylor Swift’s song “Shake it Off,” as well as how she trademarked certain lines used in the song. Much like Spotify’s AI DJ, the YouTube music hosts have a “personality” which then highlights upcoming songs, explains why they were chosen for your next track, and even provides a snippet of information about the artist behind the song.
It’s a nice callback to older radio shows, where the hosts would introduce different songs, getting listeners excited to hear what was coming on next. It falls a bit flat in this context, as there’s really no reason for you to care about the host, since it’s just an AI-generated voice. But if you crave the old-school DJ style of radio shows, then it’s an interesting way to listen to music.
How to try YouTube’s AI music hosts
As noted above, this feature is only available as part of YouTube Labs at the moment, and YouTube hasn’t shared much information about it just yet. However, if you have YouTube Premium — a requirement for YouTube Labs at the moment — you can sign up to join the waitlist. It’s currently only available to a limited number of U.S.-based participants, but I noticed the AI music hosts popping up in YouTube Music pretty quickly after signing up. However, your mileage may vary.
If you like the way Spotify’s AI DJ breaks things down, then using YouTube’s feature will feel very similar. Because YouTube has been close-lipped about the feature, it’s unclear if everyone receives a version of the same DJ, or if the DJ is created for you based on other unknown factors.
Spotify has also expanded its AI DJ service to create AI playlists using prompts that you feed the system, and since Google already has Gemini baked into so many of its apps and services, it’s no surprise that YouTube has already unveiled a similar tool that lets you create playlists by simply telling the AI what you want to listen to.
