AI music app AiMi lets you set the tempo and mood of endless playlists

The craze for blissful background music ideal for studying or chilling out to has spawned popular YouTube channels, streaming playlists and even AI-powered apps. AiMi — which today is rolling out a major update for its generative music service — sits squarely in the latter camp alongside peers Endel and Brain.fm. A little more than a year after its debut, the app for electronic music fans is launching a new interface that gives listeners six endless mixes to choose from. Their titles, including Serenity and Chill and Deep, give you an indication of the type of meditative, lo-fi and deep house beats on offer.

So how does an AI-powered music app work? In AiMi's case, you hit play to listen to a feed of continuous music, including real tracks, generated by artificial intelligence. Whereas previously you could adjust the tempo of the mix using an energy scale of 1 to 10, the service now uses a thumbs up/thumbs down feature to learn your preferences.

AIMI has also ditched its paid subscription and is now completely free. The company says its platform is powered by a team of in-house artists including producers Knobcult, Blond:ish and DJ Monarke, among others. But, thus far, it hasn't revealed any high-profile collaborations with pop stars, unlike the competition. Take its rival Endel, the ambient music service, which costs $60 per year, previously released an AI Lullaby featuring original music and vocals from electronic artist Grimes.

Though, with a major backer in AiMi's corner, a big-name guest spot may not be a stretch. The app is represented by Shore Fire, a pop culture PR behemoth whose clients span Grammy winners and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees. The agency also handles publicity for Quincy Jones-backed NFT platform OneOf, whose early partners include Doja Cat and John Legend.