Spotify’s AI is no match for a real DJ

At the hazard of stating the obvious, AI is perfectly everyplace lately. There’s AI successful your car, AI successful your messaging app, AI successful your glasses. I’ve gotten beauteous desensitized to it each arsenic a hazard of the job, but it was Spotify’s AI DJ that really got my attention. 

I’ve listened to a apical 40 vigor presumption successful the past 2 decades, truthful I’m acquainted with the conception of a robot picking euphony for me. In that context, an AI DJ doesn’t look similar overmuch of a stretch. But aft utilizing it connected and disconnected for a week, I’m convinced it’s the cleanable analogy for our AI-everything moment. It’s eerily human, and it plays a batch of euphony I like. But instrumentality it from idiosyncratic with entree to a high-quality section indie vigor presumption — 1 that employs quality DJs! — determination conscionable ain’t thing similar the existent thing.

Spotify’s AI DJ has been astir since aboriginal 2023, but it piqued my involvement precocious erstwhile I was scrounging astir the app looking for immoderate work-friendly tunes. The AI dependable greeted maine by name, past aft a small preamble, told maine it had immoderate “dream popular and neo-psychedelic waves” picked out. As the euphony started, I was annoyed astatine however highly my crap it was. I shouldn’t person been surprised, considering that Spotify has astir a decade’s worthy of information connected my philharmonic listening habits. It drew connected my erstwhile listening for the adjacent track, too: a opus by Classixx, whose Hanging Gardens album I listened to connected repetition past year. But portion I listened to Hanging Gardens connected Spotify, I didn’t observe it there. I heard it archetypal connected KEXP — a section presumption wherever existent humans prime the music.

See, present successful Seattle, we’re highly spoiled. In betwixt the robot-programmed, conglomerate-owned stations, we person a existent honest-to-god autarkic presumption connected our vigor dials: 90.3, to beryllium precise. I started listening to KEXP done their online watercourse years earlier I moved to Seattle. Being a section has lone made maine much of a fan; I celebrated the opening of the “new” KEXP determination successful 2016 and saw 1 of my favourite bands play a escaped in-studio show determination not agelong earlier they broke up. I’ve logged countless hours moving connected my laptop successful the assemblage gathering space. Being capable to locomotion into my favourite vigor presumption and conscionable like, bent out, remains chill arsenic hellhole each these years later. I privation each metropolis successful the state had a KEXP.

It’s not that I similar everything that I perceive connected KEXP. “The Friday song” is banned successful my location due to the fact that my hubby and I are some truthful sick of it. And arsenic overmuch arsenic I’ve tried, I can’t get into Wet Leg. It’s a maine problem. But that’s benignant of the constituent of a vigor station, isn’t it? You perceive immoderate worldly you similar and immoderate worldly you’re not arsenic into. Maybe you perceive a opus you forgot astir but emotion oregon a set you excavation that you’ve ne'er heard before. It’s a well-rounded meal, portion an AI-curated acceptable feels similar a dessert buffet. It’s each the worldly you love, and it’s large astatine first, but past it gives you a tummy ache aft a while.

In the epoch of Spotify algorithms and apical 40 stations, a DJ mightiness look similar an abstract concept. But KEXP’s DJs are precise overmuch existent radical that I spot retired successful the community, emceeing section euphony festivals and buying astatine the co-op market store. It’s an evident but important difference. When a existent quality plays a opus you truly similar due to the fact that they truly similar it, too, it hits antithetic than erstwhile it comes from an algorithm. 

Being connected aerial and sharing euphony is “a mode of transportation with thousands of radical crossed the world,” says Evie Stokes, DJ and big of KEXP’s Drive Time. “It’s a large mode for maine to beryllium honorable and person accountability and assemblage that I deliberation we truthful desperately need.”

Her transportation to the assemblage is built done and alongside the music; Stokes has shared her travel into sobriety with her listeners. “Every clip I speech astir it connected air… I get an influx of messages from folks who are going done akin paths successful their life.” That transportation simply can’t beryllium erstwhile the lone happening moving the presumption is simply a robot.

One of the downsides of being employed arsenic a writer is that it’s fundamentally intolerable for maine to perceive to the vigor portion I work. I can’t constitute to songs with lyrics, and I decidedly can’t constitute portion a DJ is talking. So I crook to Spotify a batch during the workday, and I’ve listened to plentifulness of “lofi” and “smooth jazz beats” playlists portion blogging. I’ve utilized different of Spotify’s AI features, too: AI-created playlists. For the purpose, they’re fine. Best of all, there’s nary pretense that a quality is picking the euphony for me. I archer the machine what temper I’m in, and it assembles a playlist of tunes that acceptable the assignment. 

If thing else, the AI DJ is simply a benignant of totem of the peculiar AI infinitesimal we’re in. Generative AI is buzzy, and tech companies are engaged shoving it into each country of each merchandise they make, whether it has immoderate concern being determination oregon not. There’s plentifulness of worldly AI tin bash and astir apt volition bash for america successful the adjacent future. But lasting successful for a existent human, particularly successful originative applications, isn’t 1 of them. Take it from the Polish vigor presumption that tried — and failed spectacularly — to replace its quality presenters with AI characters. 

Does anyone really privation an AI DJ calling them by name? Does anybody privation an AI-generated DM from their favourite creator? Does anyone privation to have a Zoom gathering with your AI avatar? Maybe, but I deliberation the tech executives pushing for much of this worldly are vastly overestimating this request and underestimating the worth that a existent quality brings to an exchange. People want to perceive to podcasts, for Christ’s sake. A podcast is conscionable humans talking to each other. Conceptually, listening to a podcast is astir arsenic precocious arsenic gathering circular the vigor for your favourite programme similar radical did a 100 years ago. Some things are constants.

On the time I started listening to the Spotify AI DJ, I got successful the car that day to prime my kid up from daycare. DJ Riz was hosting Drive Time on KEXP, and the archetypal happening I heard him play was “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” by Lesley Gore, released successful 1963. It’s a bop that’s arsenic syrupy-sweet arsenic the candy successful its title. Riz followed that up with Love from Mos Def’s 1999 medium Black connected Both Sides. I’m definite I wouldn’t person listened to either of those songs connected my ain that afternoon, fto unsocial backmost to back. But it worked, and the juxtaposition made maine smile. You conscionable don’t get that benignant of happening from AI.