Spotify’s AI DJ Is More Than Just a Playlist Generator: It’s a Conversation With Your Pocket DJ
If you think Spotify’s AI DJ sounds more human than robot, there’s a reason for that: It’s modeled after an actual person, Xavier "X" Jernigan. Jernigan, Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships, is the voice behind DJ X, the music streaming application’s AI-powered DJ. The feature uses artificial intelligence to analyze user’s listening habits, preferences, and mood to create a personalized stream of songs, blending familiar favorites with new discoveries. But Spotify’s AI DJ goes beyond simply generating a playlist; it engages with users, providing personalized commentary and interesting facts about artists and genres, making it feel like you have a personal DJ in your pocket.
Key Takeaways
- Spotify’s AI DJ is a personalized music experience that goes beyond just creating playlists, offering commentary and insights about music.
- The AI DJ is based on the voice of Xavier "X" Jernigan, Spotify’s Head of Cultural Partnerships, making it sound more human and relatable.
- Spotify uses Sonantic, a text-to-speech AI voice platform it acquired in 2022, and OpenAI technologies to power its AI DJ.
- The AI DJ was trained using data from Jernigan’s previous podcast work and his personal insights on music.
- The AI DJ is continuously updated with current trends and music news, ensuring an engaging and informed experience for users.
Becoming Spotify’s AI DJ
Jernigan’s voice was already familiar to millions of Spotify users as the host of several original podcasts, including Spotify’s first morning show, "The Get Up". After "The Get Up" ended, Spotify approached Jernigan with an idea: an AI-powered DJ that would be more than just a playlist generator. The team wanted the voice to sound like Jernigan, and he agreed to become the AI DJ’s voice model. Jernigan saw this as creating "a partnership between…[him] and Spotify," ensuring his personality was embedded in the product, not just his voice.
Training the AI DJ
To create the AI DJ, Spotify utilized Sonantic and OpenAI technologies. The team used nearly 300 episodes of "The Get Up", isolating Jernigan’s audio tracks and feeding the data to the AI DJ to analyze his speech patterns, pitch, pacing, and emotions. Jernigan also kept a notes document of conversational phrases about music, enabling the AI DJ to mimic his natural way of describing music.
The training process involved recording sessions where Jernigan read lines and scripts as himself, aiming to be as natural as possible. This ensured the AI DJ accurately learned his voice inflections and nuances of speech. Jernigan and his team of writers, music experts, and data curators meet weekly to keep the AI DJ current with music trends and news. For example, when Kendrick Lamar and Drake were involved in a public rap battle, the team quickly updated the AI DJ with information on the diss tracks and context about each artist, allowing listeners to stay informed.
Looking Toward the Future
Spotify’s AI DJ launched in the U.S. and Canada in February 2023, and is now available in 68 markets globally. Jernigan shared that initially he was nervous about how the AI DJ would be received, but those fears were quickly dispelled by the positive feedback from users.
Spotify continues to expand its AI DJ, recently introducing DJ Livi, a Spanish-speaking AI DJ modeled after the voice of Olivia Quiroz Roa, Spotify’s senior music editor. This gives Premium users in select markets the option to listen to music commentary in either Spanish or English.
While the AI DJ is evolving, Jernigan assures listeners that DJ X, the English-speaking AI DJ, is here to stay. With the continued innovation and development of the AI DJ, users can expect an even more immersive and personalized music experience.
