YouTube is introducing YouTube Labs, an experimental hub where users can test the company’s latest artificial intelligence tools and prototypes, starting with AI hosts for YouTube Music. “As you listen to radio and mixes, AI hosts will chime in with relevant stories and insights,” YouTube explains. A brand-specific version of its parent company’s Google Labs, YouTube Labs is positioned as the place “to discover the next generation of YouTube,” and the streaming video giant says that like its predecessor, “feedback and interactions may be used to improve Google products and services.”

“YouTube Labs is a new initiative dedicated to exploring the potential of AI on YouTube,” reveals the blog post. “The first experiment, AI music hosts designed to deepen your listening experience by sharing relevant stories, fan trivia, and fun commentary about your favorite music on the YouTube Music app, is now live.”

While the sign-up page indicates that YouTube Labs is “open to all YouTube users in the U.S.,” TechCrunch points out “only a limited number of U.S.-based participants will be given access to the experimental program.”

The AI music host feature “adds a new button to the now playing screen, just to the right of the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons” that you can tap “to enable AI-powered interjections,” reports TechRadar.

TechCrunch writes that YouTube Music’s AI host “comes two years after Spotify launched an AI DJ that delivers a curated selection of music alongside AI-powered spoken commentary about the tracks and artists you like.”

Last month, YouTube released Veo 3 Fast, an optimized version of its generative AI tool for Shorts creators and announced that in the months ahead users could expect a motion tool that brings photos to life by applying motion from another video, like dance or sports moves.

The YouTube Labs features “are experimental and may be disabled without notice,” the platform advises.

ZDNet notes that YouTube has also added three new features for Premium users: high-quality audio when watching official/premium content on mobile devices; faster playback speeds of up to 4x in 0.05 increments (previously on mobile and now on the Web); and jump ahead, which uses AI to “skip to the good parts automatically,” now porting over to smart TVs and gaming consoles.

Related:
YouTube’s Multi-Language Audio Feature for Dubbing Videos Rolls Out to All Creators, TechCrunch, 9/10/25
AI Is Coming for YouTube Creators, The Atlantic, 9/10/25
Search Millions of YouTube Videos Used to Train Generative AI, The Atlantic, 9/10/25