YouTube is launching an experimental AI-powered music commentary feature through its new YouTube Labs program, potentially challenging Spotify’s AI DJ that was launched two years ago.
The “AI music host” feature, available to “a limited number of US-based participants,” adds an AI voice commentary between songs on playlists. The AI host shares relevant stories, fan trivia and commentary about the music that’s playing on the YouTube Music app.
The launch comes over a year after YouTube Music started testing an AI-generated radio feature and added a song recognition tool that lets users search songs by sound such as by humming, singing or playing a tune.
Its experimental AI commentary feature is seen as a direct competitor to Spotify’s AI DJ feature launched in 2023. Spotify described the feature as an “AI DJ in your pocket” that serves as “a personalized AI guide that knows you and your music taste so well that it can choose what to play for you”.
In May, Spotify started testing voice-based music requests for its AI DJ, allowing Premium subscribers to verbally customize their listening sessions in real-time. At the time, Spotify noted that engagement with AI DJ “nearly doubled over the past year.”
YouTube’s approach focuses on adding context to existing listening sessions. The AI host injects commentary between tracks that users have selected instead of building a new playlist.
The move comes as YouTube continues experimenting with new ways to challenge Spotify in the competitive music streaming market.
Earlier this year, YouTube quietly rolled out a pilot program that allows two people to share a Premium subscription plan. The streaming giant started testing the feature in India, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The program mirrors Spotify’s Duo offering, which launched in the US and 54 other markets in July 2020. The Duo tier is currently priced at $16.99 per month in the US and £16.99 per month in the UK.
In response, Spotify has also introduced features that are already being offered by YouTube. The streaming giant forayed into video content last year, launching full-length music videos in beta for Spotify Premium users across 11 markets, excluding the US. Spotify also unveiled ‘Clips‘ in 2023, which are brief videos under 30 seconds long that allow artists to engage with their audience and promote their music — the same format available on TikTok and YouTube’s Shorts.
As of March 2025, YouTube reported 125 million paid YouTube Music and Premium subscribers worldwide, including trials. The milestone means that YouTube added +25 million subscribers over the previous 12 months – which works out to slightly over 2 million subs per month on average – since its last subscriber announcement of 100 million in February 2024.
Meanwhile, as of Q2 2025, Spotify had 276 million paying users, up by +8 million from Q1 2025. Spotify’s total monthly active users, which combine paying users and ad-supported users, grew 11% YoY to 696 million.
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