Spotify already had success with its popular AI DJ feature, and now the music streaming service is bringing AI to playlist creation. The company on Monday introduced AI playlists in beta, a new option that lets users create a playlist based on text prompts.
The feature will initially be available to users on Android and iOS devices in the UK and Australia and will roll out over the coming months.
In addition to more standard playlist requests, such as those based on genre or time frame, Spotify’s use of AI means people could request a wider variety of custom playlists, such as “songs to serenade my cat” or “beats to fight a zombie apocalypse,” suggests Spotify. Prompts can refer to all kinds of things, including places, animals, activities, movie characters, colors or emojis. However, the company notes that the best playlists are created using messages that contain a mix of genres, moods, artists and decades.
Spotify also leverages its understanding of user tastes to customize the playlists it creates with the feature.
Once the playlist is created, users can then use AI to revise and refine the final result by issuing commands like “less upbeat” or “more pop,” for example. Users can also swipe left on any songs to remove them from the playlist.
In terms of technology, Spotify says it uses large language models (LLM) to understand user intent. Spotify then uses its personalization technology — the information it has about the listener’s history and preferences — to fulfill the prompt and create a personalized AI-generated playlist for the user.
The company uses a number of third-party tools for its AI and machine learning experiences.
TechCrunch first reported in October 2023 that Spotify was developing AI playlists when reverse engineering engineers Chris Messina and Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots of code from Spotify’s app that referenced AI playlists that were “based on your orders.”
Spotify at the time declined to comment on the finding, saying it would not offer a statement about potential new features. However, in December 2023, the company confirmed that it was testing AI-driven playlist creation after a TikTok video of the feature surfaced showing what Spotify user described as “Spotify’s ChatGPT”.
The feature can be found under the ‘Your Library’ tab in the Spotify app by tapping the plus (+) button at the top right of the screen. A pop-up menu appears showing the AI Playlist as a new option alongside the existing “Playlist” and “Blend” options.
If a listener can’t think of any prompts to try, Spotify offers immediate suggestions to help people get started, such as “focus on working with instrumental electronica,” “fill the silence with coffee background music,” ” be enhanced with fun, upbeat and positive songs’ or ‘explore a niche genre like Witch House’ and many more.
To save an AI playlist, press the “Create” button to add it to the library.
The company notes that the AI has guardrails around it so it doesn’t respond to offensive messages or those that focus on current events or specific brands.
Spotify has been investing in AI technology to improve its streaming service for several months. With the launch of AI DJ, which rolled out globally last year, the company used a combination of Sonantic and OpenAI technology to create an artificial version of Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan’s voice, which introduces personalized song selections into user. Last year, Spotify said it was investing in internal research to better understand the latest artificial intelligence and large language models.
CEO Daniel Ek has also told investors about other ways Spotify could leverage AI, including summarizing podcasts, creating AI-generated audio ads and more. The company also considered using AI technology that would clone a podcast host’s voice for ads read by a host.
Before AI playlists, Spotify released a similar feature, Niche Mixes, that allowed users to create personalized playlists using prompts, but the product didn’t leverage AI technology and was more limited in its language understanding.
