Spotify has been getting lots of attention for their new artificial intelligence DJ, but is it worth the hype? Is it finally time for Spotify users to switch back to Apple Music? 

The world of artificial intelligence has been terrifying yet fascinating to explore. Computer-made art pieces and celebrity-impersonating voices have been floating around the internet for some time, confusing yet impressing viewers. When I heard about an artificial DJ being developed to curate music for you, my expectations were high. I waited a few weeks and religiously updated my Spotify app in anticipation for this personal DJ after seeing a social media post demonstrating its robotic skills, but I was unimpressed with the results. 

Spotify has had its fair share of updates recently, including a TikTok- inspired feature where you can scroll through songs on playlists as a sort of “preview”. I personally think this is incredibly unnecessary, but it isn’t a big enough problem to go into detail about. 

When I finally loaded up the results, I was confused with the outcome. I guess I was expecting a platform to show you new music that you wouldn’t have heard before but would still enjoy based on the music you already play. I didn’t expect to hear the voice of an AI young man announcing exactly why he chose to play each genre for me. 

After about ten minutes and several skips, I was only met with one song that I hadn’t heard before. It seemed like the algorithm wanted to play mostly songs that were already in my “liked songs” playlist. If you are anything like me, you can be picky about exactly what mood your music is portraying. I seem to be finding myself closely monitoring each song that the algorithm plays, which I wouldn’t be doing if I had made the playlist myself. If you are someone who doesn’t listen to a variety of genres, this feature may be more impactful for you, as I’m sure the experience is very adaptable.  

Although the idea of a personal DJ to play songs curated just for your mood is undoubtedly interesting, Spotify’s execution wasn’t there. There may be no surefire way to somehow improve the soul of the robot that is choosing the songs, but it would be better to simply make yourself a couple of long playlists with songs that you like. In my opinion, this DJ wasn’t worth the time spent skipping bad songs.