YouTube is testing a new feature called “Beyond the Beat”, which introduces AI-generated hosts that provide commentary on the music playing in the YouTube Music app.
The AI hosts aim to give listeners more context, offering stories behind songs, trivia about artists, or details about when and how bands formed or broke up—similar to the role of a radio DJ. The feature is part of YouTube Labs, Google’s program for trialing experimental AI tools.
At the moment, the feature is available only to Premium subscribers in the US who sign up through the YouTube Labs website. Once activated, a Google Gemini logo will appear on the Now Playing screen, letting users toggle the AI host on or off. While the feature can’t be turned off permanently once enrolled, users can pause it for an hour or for a day.
The feature is still in prototype stage and may be removed at any time. It is also limited to a small group of users, meaning even eligible subscribers may not gain access.
YouTube’s experiment follows moves by other platforms in the music streaming space. Spotify launched its AI DJ more than two years ago, which not only provides commentary but also creates playlists tailored to listening history.
The development also fits into Google’s wider work with AI-powered audio features. In 2024, NotebookLM introduced Audio Overview, which generated conversations between AI hosts to summarize user input. More recently, Google began testing AI search results that include conversational audio overviews for certain queries.
