Hey there – we’re Ajay & Zach, former partners from Spotify’s personalization group.
At Spotify, together we transformed sophisticated ML into products for everyday people, products that were fun and thoughtfully crafted and didn’t feel like algorithms.
Now we’re running that playbook for generative AI, and are excited to share what we’ve been up to with Alt.
We believe deeply in the magic of generative AI… but we also regularly encounter people who opt-out because they aren’t interested in “AI slop”.
The more we talked to them, the more we decided that the “slop” label isn’t based on quality or realism or Midjourney aesthetics.
It’s based on a simple question: who’s the hero, the person creating with AI? Or the AI itself? If the AI is the hero, it’s “slop”.**
The content can be incredible and even entertaining. But as long as generative AI refers to “feeds of content where AI makes the creative decisions,” then its appeal will hit the head (“it’s impressive AI can do this”) but not the heart.
We see a gap in building for people who would use generative AI in amazing ways, if it was presented to them in a way that didn’t feel like AI.
Where instead AI was a co-creator that’s making with you, not for you; and where AI connects you to a community of people you care about, instead of broadcasting to the monoculture.
That product would look radically different to what we were seeing people building, more like the spiritual successor to WhatsApp – tapping into the universal joy and FOMO when an explosive group chat creates a shared, live moment of community.
At Spotify, our favorite products would just “get you”. They were playful around identity in fun and viral ways (Wrapped & Daylist); they connected you to people you cared about across private online groups (Blend & Jam); and they featured AI/ML that co-created with you (AI DJ & Daily Mix).
Those are the principles we looked to when we built Alt.
Think of an “Alt” as your AI alternate – a shareable version of your identity, based on a generative AI model personalized just for you.
Alts are designed for private online rooms, where you and the people you care about are together with agency, trust, and collective participation. And your Alts are alongside all of you, co-creating shared, live moments.
For several months we’ve been piloting and refining across a range of groups – Bitmoji moms, couples with pets, AI-skeptical visual artists and designers, members of private Discord servers, former coworkers and school friends. And what’s striking is the feeling of community people feel when you and your friends are performing for each other.
We believe we’re onto something special. In a world where AI likeness tech raises fears of deepfakes, misinformation, and “Black Mirror” episodes, our users tell us, “Alt doesn't feel like AI, it just feels like playing Barbie with my friends.”
And we’re tremendously excited about Alt’s potential as this scales across friends, communities, fandoms, and more. We want to put the delight and power of generative AI in the hands of everyone who would otherwise miss out, by making them the hero and not the AI.
We’re super excited about this! If you’d like to know more or join our private beta, you can sign up for our e-mail list below or just reach out at [email protected].