YouTube offers a chance to test out its AI experiments, starting with “AI music hosts”

Earlier this month, YouTube announced several policies and tools to protect users from improper use of artificial intelligence. The proper use of AI, apparently, is doing it through YouTube Labs, “a new way for users to take our cutting edge AI experiments for a test drive,” the company shared in a blog post on Friday. It’s a “new initiative dedicated to exploring the potential of AI on YouTube.”

In conjunction with the launch of Labs, the first new AI feature is now live. These are “AI music hosts” which are “designed to deepen your listening experience by sharing relevant stories, fan trivia, and fun commentary about your favorite music on the YouTube Music app.” (Sounds like the same value you could get out of watching a Music Choice channel, but who are we to scoff at the forward march of progress?) The AI music hosts are not yet available to all users; you have to sign up for YouTube Labs, at which point “A limited number of US-based participants” will have access to the feature.

Like most tech companies, YouTube is racing to figure out how AI can actually be useful for its customers, rather than clogging the algorithm with slop and allowing people to generate revenue through “inauthentic” scammy content. Like parent company Google, YouTube has incorporated an AI-powered search engine and tools for creators to edit and enhance their videos. Last year, YouTube rolled out an AI-powered song discovery tool similar to Shazam, as well as a conversational radio feature with which users can create a custom radio station by describing what they want to hear (per TechCrunch). YouTube Labs mirrors Google Labs, which also lets users test new AI features. In the vein of Willy Wonka and his Chocolate Factory, those who sign up (and are selected) will get to test other “early prototypes and experiments and influence the future of YouTube,” according to the blog post.