YouTube is bringing AI voices to its music app, and not everyone is going to like how it works.
On September 26, the company launched a new Labs experiment called “Beyond the Beat,” an AI host that interrupts your music with trivia, stories, and commentary.
The AI kicks in when you’re listening to mixes or radio stations in the YouTube Music app. It generates short spoken clips, adding fan trivia and background on songs or artists you’re streaming.
A Gemini sparkle icon now appears on the Now Playing screen. Tapping it lets you mute the AI for either one hour or the rest of the day. But there’s no permanent off switch. The only way to stop it entirely is to leave the Labs program.
YouTube Music test features an annoying DJ you can’t mute
“The first experiment, AI music hosts designed to deepen your listening experience by sharing relevant stories, fan trivia, and fun commentary about your favorite music on the YouTube Music app,” YouTube explained.
YouTube positions the feature as similar to a traditional radio host, meant to “enhance” listening rather than distract.
The concept draws comparisons to Spotify’s AI DJ, though unlike Spotify’s bot, YouTube’s doesn’t curate playlists. It just talks.
Critics point out that generative AI brings risks of “hallucinations” — made-up facts or awkward filler that could hurt the music experience. Ars Technica described it as “playful banter” in theory, but the quality remains to be seen.
The AI host is only available to a limited number of US participants who opt in through YouTube Labs. It comes as YouTube pushes AI deeper into its platform, including a highlight tool that automatically takes streams and makes them into clips for Shorts.
But not every rollout has gone smoothly. Earlier this month, YouTube faced backlash for expanding its AI age-estimation system, which can lock users out of certain videos unless they upload ID.
Now, with AI voices chiming in while you’re trying to listen to songs, YouTube is once again testing just how much “AI enhancement” people actually want in their music apps.
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