YouTube Music is channeling Spotifys AI DJ with this new feature and early testers love it despite one big frustration

Date:
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 12:32:27 +0000

Description:
Despite some frustrations, beta users are enjoying YouTube Music's new AI
host especially its music trivia commentary.

FULL STORY ======================================================================YouTube Music is testing a new feature that's similar to Spotify's AI DJ More users are getting access and the initial reaction has been mixed Beta testers have praised its music trivia interjections and unintrusive commentary, but
there's still room for improvement

YouTube Music is lagging behind other music streaming services when it comes to features like Spotify's AI DJ, but it's just started rolling out its own radio-style trick to beta testers as part of its YouTube Labs initiative .

At the moment YouTube Labs is only accessible to a limited number of Premium beta testers in the US, and we dont know when this program will be available in other markets. However, more users are starting to get their hands on YouTube Musics AI host and despite the disregard for AI music streaming features in general, the reactions have been pretty positive.

When Spotify rolled out AI DJ in 2023, it sparked a huge debate about AIs presence within music streaming, but was also criticized especially for its lack of new music recommendations and jarring voiceover. I was one of those critics, but warmed up to it when Spotify introduced its song requests
feature . As for YouTube Music, its a two-voice host rather than a DJ, but
has a similar effect.

Rather than existing as a separate entity in the YouTube Music app, the AI DJ icon appears next to the 'thumbs up / down' buttons in the playback screen when youre listening to radio and mixes. Its still in its infancy, but users are already gathering their thoughts. Good news for trivia nerds (Image credit: Reddit / DalekBricks)

The main difference between YouTube Musics AI host and Spotifys AI DJ is that it offers "relevant stories, fan trivia, and fun commentary" in your
listening session, while Spotifys AI DJ simply introduces the next segment of songs. Rather than segueing from one song to the next, YouTube Musics AI host injects music trivia into the voiceover which is going down well with music nerds.

The most common frustration is its failed attempts at cheesy humor and there are also seemingly some factual inaccuracies (which YouTube has addressed). Others simply hate the concept in general, with Reddit user 'ptrckl_' stating "I just wanna listen to my music". But overall, most testers have expressed their appreciation for the addition of music facts weaved into their
streaming experience. Comment from r/YoutubeMusic

Where users complained about Spotify AI DJ being invasive, the opposite is being said about YouTube Musics AI host. Instead, some have credited it for its natural interjections and unintrusive commentary. The voices themselves have also been praised, but more seem to be in favor of the female host
rather than the male host. Comment from r/YoutubeMusic

YouTube Music's answer to Spotify's AI DJ is far from perfect and is still a beta experiment. But with a few tweaks here and there it could surface as one of the music streamer's best features. Based on the early reactions from test users, theres hope for the services venture into AI-based experiences as
long as YouTube listens to that user feedback. Room for improvement (Image credit: YouTube)

Though YouTube Musics new feature has largely gone down well, it isn't the biggest feature that users have been asking for.

In addition to other basic functions such as searching within playlists and volume normalization, some have noted that YouTube has yet to introduce a liked songs library, a simple feature on other major platforms.

Not only is YouTube Music seemingly ignoring the small requests from users,
it appears that its AI DJ competitor cannot be disabled permanently at least for now.

Still, in between these common frustrations there's a surprising wave of support for YouTube Musics AI host, particularly its commentary, so hopefully a refined version will ultimately get a wider rollout.

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And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too. You might also like YouTube Music just launched these 3 new features and it's clearly copying Spotify Apple Music just became a surprise language-learning helper with its latest free update Spotify finally lets you remove individual songs from your algorithm and now I can stop myself getting side-tracked by my guilty pleasure listens



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/audio/youtube-music-is-channeling-spotifys-ai-dj-wit h-this-new-feature-and-early-testers-love-it-despite-one-big-frustration


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