Amazon Music announced Tuesday the launch of a new AI-powered feature called “Topics,” which lets users browse podcast episodes by the specific topics discussed in the episode.
When you visit a podcast episode page, check for new topic tags under the episode description. Tapping on a tag will bring up a list of related podcast episodes on the same topic. This allows you to find podcasts on specific topics like “coffee” and “dopamine,” in addition to general categories like comedy and news.
The company explained that the new feature runs on Amazon Web Services (AWS) but also relies on human labor: AI analyzes podcast transcripts and descriptions to identify key topics, and then human team members determine relevant tags to add to episode pages.
The feature is available to all Amazon Music users in the US on iOS and Android devices starting today. It will be available on popular podcasts on Amazon Music, including The Daily, SmartLess, and This American Life. The company also plans to expand Topics to more podcast content, which will provide a wider range of topics and an improved list of related podcast episodes.
Another AI-powered feature that Amazon Music is adding is Maestro, an AI playlist generator that creates playlists based on user prompts. The feature launched in beta last April. The new AI feature follows Amazon’s acquisition of audio content discovery engine Snackable AI last year, and it’s hoped it will help bolster its podcasting business.
