Spotify responds as their ‘AI’ DJ is actually a real person you can meet

TikToker Grace Brassel went viral on August 19 after meeting Xavier 'X' Jernigan, Spotify's head of cultural partnerships, who is the real person behind the AI DJ known as DJ X on Spotify. Jernigan, whose voice was trained on over 300 episodes of his podcast, has been the voice of the AI DJ since 2024. Spotify responded to the viral post, saying, 'Not every day you meet DJ X in the wild.'

A TikToker has gone viral after meeting the man behind Spotify’s AI DJ, and other users can’t believe he’s a real person. Over the last year, Spotify has started introducing a number of AI-powered tools https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/spotify-adds-verified-badge-for-human-artists-amid-ai-music-boom-3359095/ . Premium subscribers are able to use prompts in order to generate a playlist https://www.dexerto.com/tech/how-to-make-spotify-ai-playlists-2634932/ , and there is a DJ that will recommend new songs based on your listening habits. That DJ – known as DJ X – does have a voice, leading people to question whether he is voiced by a real man, or if he’s actually AI-generated. It can be a complex minefield to navigate, especially with the rise of AI-generated music on Spotify. https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/spotify-finally-has-new-feature-to-flag-ai-artists-after-months-of-requests-3397573/ However, one TikToker has gone viral after finding out that the man behind the AI DJ is actually real. Spotify’s AI DJ has been spotted in-person That’s right, on August 19, TikToker Grace Brassel https://www.tiktok.com/@gracejohanna/video/7675444923813956877?is from webapp=1&web id=7620808467830605334 was blown away when they bumped into and he sounded exactly like Spotify’s DJ X. “Hey Grace, what’s going on? My name is Xavier, my friends call me X. Coming up next, I’ve got ‘Maggots for Brains’ by Olivia Rodrigo, check it out,” Xavier ‘X’ Jernigan said, constantly telling Brassel that “I’m real,” as he smiled. Jernigan has been the voice behind the AI DJ since 2024, with UniLadTech https://www.uniladtech.com/news/spotify-dj-x-real-person-woman-meet-xavier-jernigan-921342-20260820 pointing out that the voice was trained on more than 300 episodes of his own podcast. He is also Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships. The platform even responded to the viral post, saying: “Not every day you meet DJ X in the wild.” Other TikTok users were blown away, but wanted to share some thoughts with Jernigan. “I got beef with that man. He plays absolute CRAP,” one said. “He always say the most outta pocket things,” another said. “Tell him to stop calling music colder than a polar bear’s toenails it ruins my vibe,” commented another. Related Spotify has also added a ‘Skip Ahead’ button https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/spotify-responds-as-new-ad-skip-tool-feared-a-significant-threat-to-podcasts-3396725/ that allows users to jump forward while listening to podcasts so they can avoid ads.