Make Playlists Like Never Before: Spotify Enters The Generative AI Trend With 'AI Playlist'

As more companies realize AI's potential, the technology is certainly getting in more places.

This time, it's Spotify's turn. The popular audio streaming and media service provider has joined the generative AI trend, by introducing what it calls the 'AI Playlist' feature, which uses text prompts to build a playlist based on a user’s description.

Initially introduced as beta to Spotify Premium subscribers on Android and iOS devices in the UK and Australia, users can do things, like asking the AI "an indie folk playlist to give my brain a big warm hug," or a "relaxing music to tide me over during allergy season," or "a playlist that makes me feel like the main character."

Once the playlist is created, users can adjust what songs are in it, and even ask the AI to tweak the selection with requests such as "more pop" and "less upbeat."

Users can then tap on 'Create' and let the AI do its magic.

To use this feature, users can select 'Your Library' at the bottom-right corner of the screen on their mobile Spotify app, tap the '+' button and select 'AI Playlist.'

Users can even use prompts that reference places, animals, activities, movie characters, colors, even emojis.

According to Spotify, the most successful playlists are generated with prompts that contain a combination of genres, moods, artists, or decades.

"Just like that, Spotify will help you curate a personalized playlist based on the tracks, artists, and genres we think you’ll like. While it’s designed to be fun, the tool is still in beta and won’t produce results for non-music-related prompts, like current events or specific brands," Spotify said on its announcement.

With the AI, users that are either beginners or expert playlist creators, "AI Playlist pairs our powerful personalization technology with AI to deliver that perfect musical mix, just for you."

But just like all generative AI products that came before it, Spotify's AI Playlist is unpredictable, and can cough up some issues.

This can happen because AI Playlist can sometimes provide unexpected responses because of the nature of its training.

As a generative AI product, AI Playlist is built to understand patterns and context from vast amounts of data, which allows it to generate responses that seem coherent and relevant. However, this process isn't perfect. Sometimes, the associations or connections made by the AI may not align with human expectations, leading to surprising or unexpected answers.

Additionally, the creativity inherent in generative AI can result in novel interpretations or ideas that humans might not have considered.

This can lead to responses that are unexpected but still interesting or thought-provoking.

"While it’s designed to be fun, the tool is still in beta and won’t produce results for non-music-related prompts, like current events or specific brands. We also have measures in place around prompts that are offensive—so please prompt responsibly!" said Spotify.

After all, it’s a brand-new tool, and still in beta.