Spotify already discovered success with its fashionable AI DJ characteristic, and now the streaming music service is bringing AI to playlist creation. The corporate on Monday launched AI playlists into beta, a brand new possibility that permits customers to generate a playlist based mostly on written prompts.
The characteristic will initially grow to be obtainable to customers on Android and iOS units within the U.Ok. and Australia and will probably be iterated on within the months forward.
Along with extra customary playlist creation requests, like these based mostly on style or timeframe, Spotify’s use of AI means folks may ask for a greater diversity of customized playlists, like “songs to serenade my cat” or “beats to battle a zombie apocalypse,” Spotify suggests. Prompts can reference all types of issues, like locations, animals, actions, film characters, colours or emojis. The corporate notes that the most effective playlists are generated utilizing prompts that comprise a mix of genres, moods, artists and many years, nonetheless.
Spotify additionally leverages its understanding of customers’ tastes to customise the playlists it makes with the characteristic.
After the playlist is generated, customers can then use the AI to revise and refine the tip consequence by issuing instructions like “much less upbeat” or “extra pop,” for instance. Customers may also swipe left on any songs to take away them from the playlist.
By way of the know-how, Spotify says it’s utilizing giant language fashions (LLMs) to know the person’s intent. Then, Spotify makes use of its personalization know-how — the knowledge it has concerning the listener’s historical past and preferences — to meet the immediate and create a personalised AI-generated playlist for the person.
The corporate makes use of a variety of third-party instruments for its AI and machine studying experiences.
Trendster first reported in October 2023 that Spotify was growing AI playlists, when reverse engineers Chris Messina and Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots of code from Spotify’s app that referred to AI playlists that have been “based mostly in your prompts.”
Spotify on the time declined to touch upon the discovering, saying it could not provide a press release on attainable new options. Nevertheless, in December 2023, the corporate confirmed that it was testing AI-driven playlist creation after a TikTok video of the characteristic surfaced exhibiting what the Spotify person described as “Spotify’s ChatGPT.”
The characteristic is discovered within the “Your Library” tab in Spotify’s app by tapping on the plus button (+) on the high proper of the display. A pop-up menu seems exhibiting the AI Playlist as a brand new possibility alongside the prevailing “Playlist” and “Mix” choices.
If a listener can’t consider any prompts to attempt, Spotify provides immediate strategies to assist folks get began, like “get targeted at work with instrumental electronica,” “fill within the silence with background café music,” “get pumped up with enjoyable, upbeat, and constructive songs” or “discover a distinct segment style like Witch Home” and lots of others.
To save lots of an AI playlist, faucet the “Create” button so as to add it to the library.
The corporate notes the AI has guardrails round it so it is not going to reply to offensive prompts or these targeted on present occasions or particular manufacturers.
Spotify has been investing in AI know-how to enhance its streaming service for a lot of months. With the launch of AI DJ, which expanded globally final yr, the corporate used a mix of Sonantic and OpenAI know-how to create a synthetic model of the voice of Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan, who introduces customized track picks to the person. Final yr, Spotify mentioned it was investing in in-house analysis to higher perceive the most recent in AI and enormous language fashions.
CEO Daniel Ek has additionally teased to buyers different methods Spotify may leverage AI, together with by summarizing podcasts, creating AI-generated audio advertisements, and extra. The corporate has additionally appeared into utilizing AI tech that may clone a podcast host’s voice for host-read advertisements.
Forward of AI playlists, Spotify launched the same characteristic, Area of interest Mixes, that allowed customers to create customized playlists utilizing prompts, however the product didn’t leverage AI know-how and was extra restricted by way of its language understanding.
