Spotify already discovered success with its fashionable AI DJ feature, and now the streaming music service is bringing AI to playlist creation. The corporate on Monday launched AI playlists into beta, a brand new choice that enables customers to generate a playlist primarily based on written prompts.
The characteristic will initially develop into accessible to customers on Android and iOS gadgets within the U.Ok. and Australia and can be iterated on within the months forward.
Along with extra customary playlist creation requests, like these primarily based on style or timeframe, Spotify’s use of AI means individuals might 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 one of the best playlists are generated utilizing prompts that include 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 end result by issuing instructions like “much less upbeat” or “extra pop,” for instance. Customers can even swipe left on any songs to take away them from the playlist.
When it comes to the expertise, Spotify says it’s utilizing massive language fashions (LLMs) to know the consumer’s intent. Then, Spotify makes use of its personalization expertise — the knowledge it has concerning the listener’s historical past and preferences — to meet the immediate and create a customized AI-generated playlist for the consumer.
The corporate makes use of a spread of third-party instruments for its AI and machine studying experiences.
TechCrunch 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 had been “primarily based in your prompts.”
Spotify on the time declined to touch upon the discovering, saying it could not supply a press release on potential new options. Nevertheless, in December 2023, the company confirmed that it was testing AI-driven playlist creation after a TikTok video of the characteristic surfaced displaying what the Spotify consumer 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 prime proper of the display screen. A pop-up menu seems displaying the AI Playlist as a brand new choice alongside the present “Playlist” and “Mix” choices.
If a listener can’t consider any prompts to attempt, Spotify provides immediate solutions to assist individuals 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 plenty of others.
To avoid wasting 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 expertise to enhance its streaming service for a lot of months. With the launch of AI DJ, which expanded globally last year, the corporate used a mix of Sonantic and OpenAI expertise to create a synthetic model of the voice of Spotify’s head of cultural partnerships, Xavier “X” Jernigan, who introduces personalised track picks to the consumer. Final 12 months, Spotify said it was investing in in-house research to higher perceive the most recent in AI and enormous language fashions.
CEO Daniel Ek has additionally teased to traders other ways Spotify could leverage AI, together with by summarizing podcasts, creating AI-generated audio advertisements, and extra. The corporate has additionally appeared into utilizing AI tech that will clone a podcast host’s voice for host-read ads.
Forward of AI playlists, Spotify launched an analogous characteristic, Niche Mixes, that allowed customers to create personalised playlists utilizing prompts, however the product didn’t leverage AI expertise and was extra restricted when it comes to its language understanding.
