DJ “X” plays the best music. Photo courtesy of junior Karl Karsh.

  Students and staff at San Luis Obispo High School may not be aware of audio streaming and media services provider Spotify’s newest update: the AI DJ. 

  Spotify has recently developed an AI DJ service for people in the United States and Canada that is available as a beta option on the Spotify mobile app. It is only available to people who pay for Spotify Premium.  

  This AI DJ has been marketed as a “personalized AI guide that knows you and your music taste.” It picks tracks to play and what comments to say based on each individual’s music taste. Some people debate whether or not this could lead to a troublesome future with AI, as personal information is being given to the robot. Others disagree. 

  “In the future, AI will likely be used for small tasks. I don’t think there is a chance of a singularity or AI turning on us,” said Computer Science teacher Steven Crow.

  The AI DJ will talk between every couple of songs to tell listeners what is going to play. The voice is modeled after Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier Jernigan, and is referred to as X.

  X, unlike other robots, sounds realistic.

  Spotify states that the technology to create this generative AI is through the use of OpenAI technology. Editors who know the ins and outs of each person’s preferred music genres have programmed X to play something that the listener will enjoy.

  “AI is still a semi-new thing. I think that we have to be cautious going forwards,” said American Sign Language teacher Kristen Nusbaum. 

  For steps on how to have X soundtrack your day, go to the Spotify website.

And teachers, be aware: the District just blocked Spotify on District devices.

Sources: spotify.com, wired.com, mixmag.net, futurism.com