
Streaming
music provider Pandora is launching Voice Mode, a new smart assistant that allows listeners to control Pandora’s mobile app with voice commands.
Pandora is rolling out access to Voice
Mode to select listeners on iOS and Android, to be followed by general availability for all mobile users.
The new mode is powered by the Houndify Voice AI platform and can be triggered by the
wake phrase ‘Hey, Pandora.’
“Voice Mode combines the Houndify platform’s advanced natural language understanding technology with Pandora’s personalized
machine learning search algorithms to respond to a wide array of requests,” SoundHound stated in a blog post introducing the new feature.
Types of voice requests include changing
station, control volume and skip or pause music. The voice features can handle open-ended requests, such as ‘play something different’ or play something I like’ as well as respond to
interactive requests, such as ‘what song is this?’ or ‘add this song to my party playlist.’