Amazon Music announced Tuesday the launch of its new AI-powered feature, “Topics,” which allows users to explore podcast episodes by specific topics discussed in the episode.
When you visit the page of a podcast episode, look for new Topic tags below the episode description. You can tap on a tag to see 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 the usual categories like Comedy and News.
The company explained that the new feature is powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) but also relies on human labor. The AI analyzes podcast transcripts and descriptions to identify key topics, and then human team members determine the relevant tags to add to the episode page.
The feature is available for all Amazon Music users in the U.S. on iOS and Android devices, starting today. It’ll roll out across top podcasts on Amazon Music, including The Daily, SmartLess, and This American Life, among others. The company also plans to expand the coverage of Topics to more podcast content, which will lead to 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 this past April. The new AI features follow Amazon’s acquisition of audio content discovery engine Snackable AI last year, which aimed to help enhance features for its podcasting venture.
