Technology

YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify’s AI DJ

AnyFans 2025-09-28

By David Nield

YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify's AI DJ

the technology experts

België (Nederlands)

Deutschland

North America

US (English)

Australasia

New Zealand

View Profile

Search TechRadar

Popular Phone Brands

Samsung Galaxy

Google Pixel

Operating Systems

More from Home

Home Reviews

Home Buying Guides

View Browse

Popular Brands

Tech Radar Pro

Tech Radar Gaming

iPhone Air review
iPhone 17 Pro review
iPhone 17 Pro Max review
iPhone 17 review

Best laptop

Best web hosting
NYT Wordle today

Don’t miss these

Wireless & Bluetooth Speakers
LG’s excellent new Bluetooth speaker is getting a ‘culturally rich’ AI DJ on-device, so you can make requests and ask questions about the music

Audio Streaming
YouTube Music just launched these 3 new features – and it’s clearly copying Spotify

Spotify’s new rival to Apple Music’s AutoMix is here to upgrade your playlists – and I think it’s the better DJ too

I’ve been using Spotify’s new answer to Apple Music’s AutoMix – here are 5 of your biggest questions answered

AI Platforms & Assistants
Spotify is cracking down on AI voice clones with new impersonation rules for music uploads

‘This is one of the most confusing updates they’ve ever done’: Spotify users are frustrated with the absence of audio mixing and Messages features

I’ve been using Spotify Mix for weeks, and I can’t stop pretending that I’m the world’s best DJ

Audio Streaming
Is Spotify Mix already overshadowed? This audio-mixing software lets you mix Spotify’s entire music library

The rise of AI on YouTube is changing the platform I grew up with, and not for the better

Apple Music
AutoMix compatibility is frustrating Apple Music subscribers – these are the devices the audio-mixing tool actually works with in iOS 26

Apple Music
Apple Music fans are obsessed with AutoMix in iOS 26, but one big flaw could be its downfall

I tried the Moises Music AI update and it’s changed the way I experience music on my Windows laptop

AI Platforms & Assistants
YouTube Shorts now lets you turn text into 8-second videos using Veo 3’s AI magic

AI Platforms & Assistants
YouTube admitted to quietly tweaking creator videos for clarity using machine learning, and prompting a promised opt-out in response.

Spotify’s audiobooks add-on has finally rolled out in the US – here are 3 other new features you may have missed

YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify’s AI DJ

David Nield

27 September 2025

More experiments to come

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

YouTube has a newly rebranded Labs page
(Image credit: YouTube)

YouTube Music has a new AI music hosts feature
It sounds similar to the AI DJ in Spotify
The new feature is part of a YouTube Labs portal

If you’re a YouTube Music user in the US, then you may have an experimental new feature to test out in your account: It’s being introduced as part of what YouTube is calling YouTube Labs, so it looks as though more experiments will be on the way in the future.

YouTube Labs is apparently “dedicated to exploring the potential of AI on YouTube”, and the first test to be pushed out is something called AI music hosts. These hosts are going to “deepen your listening experience” by sharing relevant stories, fan trivia, and “fun” commentary in between tracks in the YouTube Music app.
As per the official announcement, it’s open to a “limited number” of users in the US – we’re not yet part of the group, so we can’t tell you exactly how the feature works. However, it does sound similar to the AI DJ that’s available as part of Spotify Premium.

You may like

YouTube Music just launched these 3 new features – and it’s clearly copying Spotify

LG’s excellent new Bluetooth speaker is getting a ‘culturally rich’ AI DJ on-device, so you can make requests and ask questions about the music

Spotify’s new rival to Apple Music’s AutoMix is here to upgrade your playlists – and I think it’s the better DJ too

The folks over at 9to5Google have got the AI music hosts feature working, and it adds a new button to the now playing screen, just to the right of the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons. You can tap on this to enable AI-powered interjections.

What’s new is new again

We’ve seen this web address before (Image credit: YouTube)
This seems to be a bit of a rebranding exercise rather than a completely new initiative. For some time now, YouTube Premium users have been able to head to www.youtube.com/new to test out a variety of experimental features.
Now the same URL is being used for YouTube Labs, so it would seem it just has a new name and a new AI focus (surprise surprise). In fact, it didn’t really have an old name – it was just referred to as an experimental features page. Past experiments have included more audio quality and playback speed options.
While the YouTube blog post announcement doesn’t specify that the features are exclusive to YouTube Premium, there is a YouTube Premium tag attached to the post, so presumably you need to be subscribing to take advantage of this first test.

Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox
Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
Past experiments have often been limited to specific regions and devices, but sometimes get rolled out to everyone, eventually. We’ll have to wait and see exactly how this AI music hosts feature works, and what else is in the pipeline.
You might also like

One of YouTube’s biggest annoyances just got fixed
YouTube Music now lets you sync playback on different devices
We are the way we are because of 20 years of YouTube

David Nield

Social Links Navigation
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

YouTube Music just launched these 3 new features – and it’s clearly copying Spotify

LG’s excellent new Bluetooth speaker is getting a ‘culturally rich’ AI DJ on-device, so you can make requests and ask questions about the music

Spotify’s new rival to Apple Music’s AutoMix is here to upgrade your playlists – and I think it’s the better DJ too

I’ve been using Spotify’s new answer to Apple Music’s AutoMix – here are 5 of your biggest questions answered

Spotify is cracking down on AI voice clones with new impersonation rules for music uploads

‘This is one of the most confusing updates they’ve ever done’: Spotify users are frustrated with the absence of audio mixing and Messages features

Latest in Streaming

‘You have one job’: After Peacemaker season 2’s huge plot twist, DC fans tell James Gunn there’s only one way to resolve it

Leaving Netflix in October 2025 – here’s my top pick with 91% on Rotten Tomatoes from 41 departing movies

Peacemaker season 2 episode 6’s big cameo is the perfect set up for Man of Tomorrow

Peacemaker season 2 finally reveals the truth about Earth-2 – and it turns out that big fan theory was right

Sony announces new release date for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse – and it’s a move that’s baffled me

Disney+ hikes prices, despite already facing a cancellation storm

Latest in News

YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify’s AI DJ

New Samsung Galaxy Z Tri-fold leaks hint at key software and camera zoom features

You can now use Google’s viral Nano Banana AI directly in Photoshop

ICYMI: the week’s 7 biggest tech stories from Apple’s response to ‘Scratchgate’ and the ROG Xbox Ally’s price reveal

Is the DJI Mini 5 Pro really a legal nightmare? Here’s what the world’s big drone regulators told me

Quordle hints and answers for Sunday, September 28 (game #1343)

Hot News_tariffs news_big country news_anyfans news

YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify’s AI DJ

EU rolls out strategic plan with India; Russia energy ties remain hurdle

Alibaba enters robotaxi market with investment in Ant Group-backed Hello

SunCash’s homegrown fintech a hit with central banks

IIT-Guwahati researchers develop method to produce human insulin

YouTube Music is testing a new feature that sounds a lot like Spotify’s AI DJ

You Might Also Like

EU rolls out strategic plan with India; Russia energy ties remain hurdle

Alibaba enters robotaxi market with investment in Ant Group-backed Hello

SunCash’s homegrown fintech a hit with central banks

IIT-Guwahati researchers develop method to produce human insulin