YouTube Music’s AI radio is officially called ‘Ask Music’

Abner Li | Sep 10 2024 - 1:40 pm PT

“Ask Music” is the name of the AI prompt-based conversational radio in YouTube Music, and it’s seeing wider availability, including internationally, in recent weeks.

My account has had the feature since the end of August, but earlier today I got an “Introducing Ask Music” prompt to “Turn any idea into a custom radio.” This announcement would suggest a wider launch is nearing.

It’s “included with your YouTube Premium membership.” Gemini is not explicitly named, but the same sparkle icon is present.

The feature appears as a purple card in the Home feed, like Create a radio or the banner advertising the availability of the June – August 2024 recap. Tapping launches a fullscreen chat UI with accepted prompts ranging from a few words — 80s inspired indie, Dreamy synthpop, Saddest songs, etc. — to sentences.

After a few seconds, you get a playlist card with YTM translating that query into a shorter title and longer description. It auto-plays the first track by default with the ability to save to your library, and provide feedback.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen reports in recent weeks of availability outside the US in Canada and Australia, with English being the commonality. In July, Google said it was just testing stateside, but planned to extend availability.

So far, we’re only seeing it on Android and not iOS.