By Dante Spado
I finally realized AI is cool. It didn’t write me an award-winning headline or design a visually stunning ad. It just introduced me to a good new song.
I’ll be the first to admit I’ve been a little standoffish toward this AI revolution. While others let ChatGPT write their emails, I was like the old man yelling at a cloud. “These AIs are gonna take my job!”
While AIs like ChatGPT and Dall-E are certainly impressive, they’ve just lacked one thing; a human touch. To me, being creative is a human characteristic. So, I’ve had to ask myself, are these AIs actually creating? Or are they just following their programming to produce a piece of content?
I believe the answer is more of the latter and less of the former. Sometimes you can tell when ChatGPT wrote a sentence. It can sound off, somehow just a bit too polished and squeaky clean. That’s why I was gobsmacked that the AI that won over my heart deals with one of the most human, emotional creations of all time—music.
Yo, Who’s on Aux?
I’m a big music guy. Some of my favorite artists are Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, and Nirvana. You can often find me shuffling through the Spotify Daily Mixes and rock playlists. So when I decided to switch it up and click on a new Spotify tab with a green circle and the word “DJ,” I wasn’t sure what to expect.
The next thing I knew, a guy was talking to me. A guy that sounded like a classic 90s radio DJ.
“Hey, how ya doing Dante? I’m ya new AI DJ, Xavier, but you can call me X. Yeah, I’m an AI, but I don’t set timers or turn off the lights. I just do music.”
To say I was surprised is an understatement. This was no robot talking. X had the cadence, tone, and delivery of a DJ with years of on-air experience. It was the first time an AI had ever felt human to me. And to be honest, I liked it. It was time to sit back and let X spin some tunes.
AI Can Take Us Higherrr
A few months ago, I saw a TikTok that featured the song “Higher” by Creed. I wasn’t too familiar with their music, but I took to their “divorced dad rock” style pretty quickly, adding a few songs into my rotation. Well, let me tell you, X picked up on that.
Within the first 30 minutes of playing around with X and seeing what he could do, he told me he was giving me a Creed-only set. I expected to hear “With Arms Wide Open” or one of my usual suspects. Instead, X queued up what may be one of the most absolute bangers of all time—a Creed song I had never heard, “My Sacrifice.”
I replayed the song the second it ended. I loved it. And I may have never discovered it if not for X’s algorithm. It was my lightbulb moment with AI. This technology isn’t some one-hit wonder. AI like X is here to stay.
Kill ‘Em With Kindness
It turns out that having some personality was all my AI overlords needed to make me submit to them. Alexa, the AI we’ve all invited into our homes, making her quite literally a household name, has no identity. If I ask her to play me a song, she’ll say in her HAL-9000-esque voice, “Shuffling songs you may like by David Bowie.” Did she do what she was supposed to? Absolutely. But she couldn’t have been less excited to rock out.
Meanwhile, my main man X says stuff like, “It’s time for a vibe. And that vibe—angry teenager.” And dammit X, if that isn’t a vibe sometimes. Alexa could never understand my angst. But X makes me feel like he gets me.
It got me thinking that the future of AI should move toward something more personable. Of course, there is potential danger in that. People could interact with an AI and mistakenly think it was a living, breathing human. But at the same time, it would be nice to not constantly feel like you’re Tony Stark talking to JARVIS. It’s refreshing that Spotify created an AI with some human, emotional elements to it.
All Roads Lead to Taylor
While the algorithm behind X has had some hits, it’s also had a few misses. Fresh off of a Foreigner set, X let me know he was moving on to some new music that’s topping the charts. Some unfamiliar pop music started playing. I listened for a few seconds, feeling out this new vibe before an all-too-familiar voice came through my car speakers.
Taylor. Swift.
Now, let me set the record straight. I would not call myself a Swiftie, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a few guilty pleasure songs (looking at you, “Blank Space”). I’ve listened to countless hours of her music. But that happens in my girlfriend’s car on her Spotify account. So to hear “Karma” ft. Ice Spice on my personally curated soundtrack from X was jarring. It served as a reminder that while AI is doing amazing, groundbreaking things, it’s not perfect.
I quickly summoned X and let him know Taylor was not the vibe I was looking for. I wasn’t mad at him. But in order for our relationship to continue, I needed the machine to do a little learning. To his credit, he hasn’t played any T. Swizzle since.
Signing Off
My experience with X encouraged me to kick the tires on ChatGPT. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t the boogeyman I thought it would be. I’ve decided it won’t be taking my job. Not right now, anyway. It can come off a little clunky, but I finally see the potential. It turns out the missing ingredient—that human element—is the person interacting with it. With the right prompt, it can quickly generate ideas that can help kickstart writers in their creative process.
To prove my character growth, I’ve decided to let ChatGPT wrap up this blog. Nothing like using AI to write about AI, right?
Spotify’s new AI DJ represents a significant leap forward in the world of music streaming. Through its personalized playlists, accurate recommendations, adaptive learning, and engaging exploration features, this intelligent system enriches the way we interact with music. As this technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more exciting developments that further enhance our musical experiences, making Spotify the ultimate destination for music lovers around the globe. (Seriously, we’re gonna have to work on the corniness).