Spotify is now incorporating AI into playlist creation, building on the success of its well-known AI DJ feature. On Monday, the company launched AI playlists into beta, a new feature that lets users create playlists based on written prompts.
The feature will initially become available to users on Android and iOS devices in the UK and Australia and will continue to be refined in the coming months.
Spotify Introduces AI Customized Playlists
Spotify uses AI to recommend a wider range of personalized playlists, such as "songs to serenade my cat" or "beats to battle a zombie apocalypse," and more conventional playlist creation requests, such as those based on genre or time frame.
Prompts can refer to various objects, including locations, creatures, hobbies, movies, colors, and emoticons. According to the company, the most effective playlists are created with suggestions that combine different genres, moods, performers, and decades.
Spotify uses its knowledge of user preferences to tailor its playlists with the feature.
Users can use the AI to edit and improve the playlist after it has been created by giving it instructions like "less upbeat" or "more pop," for example. Users can also swipe left on any song to remove it from the playlist.
Large language models, or LLMs, are the technological tools that Spotify claims to use to interpret the user's intent. Spotify then fulfills the request using its personalization technology, which includes its knowledge of the listener's history and preferences, to produce a playlist tailored to the user based on AI.
TechCrunch first revealed in October 2023 that Spotify was working on AI playlists when reverse engineers Chris Messina and Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots of code from the app that mentioned AI playlists that were "based on your prompts."
The company uses various third-party tools for its AI and machine learning experiences.
Spotify said then that it would not comment on the discovery or discuss potential future features. However, in December 2023, the company revealed that it was exploring AI-powered playlist generation following the appearance of a TikTok video demonstrating what a Spotify user referred to as "Spotify's ChatGPT."
To access the feature, users can go to the "Your Library" tab in the Spotify app and hit the plus sign (+) at the screen's upper right corner. The AI Playlist appears as a new option in a pop-up menu next to the existing "Playlist" and "Blend" options.
Spotify provides prompt suggestions, such as "get focused at work with instrumental electronica," "fill in the silence with background café music," "get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs," "explore a niche genre like Witch House," and many more, to help listeners get started if they are having trouble coming up with prompts.
Furthermore, use the "Create" button to save an AI playlist and add it to the library.
The company points out that because AI is surrounded by protection, it will not react to provocative questions or ones exclusive to certain brands or current events.
Spotify Focuses on AI Technology
For several months, Spotify has been enhancing its streaming service with AI technologies. Using a combination of Sonantic and OpenAI technology, the company created an artificial rendition of Spotify's head of cultural alliances, Xavier "X" Jernigan, with the debut of AI DJ, which went worldwide last year.
The AI DJ introduces personalized music suggestions to the user. Spotify announced last year that it was increasing its internal research budget to grasp better the most recent advancements in AI and large language models.
Spotify's CEO, Daniel Ek, has also hinted to investors about other ways the technology can be used, such as podcast summaries, AI-generated audio advertisements, etc. The company has also tried mimicking a podcast host's voice for host-read advertisements using AI technology.
Furthermore, Spotify has introduced Niche Mixes, a tool that lets users make personalized playlists with prompts before AI playlists. However, Niche Mixes did not use AI technology and had a more constrained language understanding system.
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