After making its beta debut this past month, the newest feature on the Spotify app is an Artificial-Intelligence controlled DJ. The DJ is intended to help listeners expand their music taste, and find more tracks they’re interested in.

Upon first hearing about a new AI DJ on my preferred music streaming app, I was slightly confused, but somewhat excited. The feature was a little difficult to find, but after selecting the “Music” tab on the Spotify homepage, an oscillating green circle floating in a blue background appeared, indicating I had found the AI DJ.

When you select the DJ option, you’re greeted by a slightly robotic-sounding male voice that introduces you to the feature. This voice returns infrequently between songs to introduce you to the next genre he’ll be “selecting” songs from. Honestly, the DJ voice did slightly hinder the listening experience, as it almost felt like ads between tracks. 

One benefit of the new feature is the option to switch genres frequently on one single program. When using the Spotify DJ, there’s a small button on the bottom right corner of the user’s screen that can be pressed at any time to bring the DJ back to change the genre up again. Overall, this feature was really nice and I could see how it would be useful to discover new music, while still having some choice over what you’re listening to.

The main drawback of the AI DJ is that, although it is a cool new addition to the app, it feels a little gimmicky. Realistically, I could not see it being used frequently by most Spotify users due to its unpredictable nature and (sometimes annoying) DJ voice interrupting the songs from time to time.

Overall, the new AI DJ program on Spotify is neat, but not very practical. Most Spotify listeners will most likely continue to stick to their own playlists, possibly checking in on the DJ from time to time.