Tech Desk 
Aug 07, 2024
Amazon Music has come out with a new AI (artificial intelligence) feature titled “Topics.”
The addition will include, using AI to identify the subjects being discussed in a podcast and consequently recommending similar podcasts.
This could very well be a case of Amazon hitting back at rival Spotify which last November talked off using Google’s Cloud AI to analyse its podcasts and audiobooks to provide a more personalised recommendation catalogue.
Read more: Reddit eyes AI-driven search result pages to 'summarise and recommend content'
“Topics” will work to analyse podcast transcriptions and descriptions along with viewer reviews to ascertain the topics of discussion, following which, “Topics” tags will appear beneath the description, and tapping on a tag will reveal a list of related podcasts.
As part of a demonstration, Amazon shared a screenshot of the Amazon Music mobile app from an episode via the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast about the effects of caffeine. Amazon added three topic tags under the description: Coffee, Caffeine and Dopamine.
Presently, the service is exclusively available to US users with the latest version of the Music app on Android and iOS. Only "top podcasts" are being treated to the addition right now, though expansion plans remain intact.
