Using Prompts, Spotify Creates AI-Generated Playlists

(CTN News) – Following the success of Spotify’s AI-powered DJ feature and, more recently, the addition of AI-translated podcasts to its app, Spotify appears to be moving forward with another use of AI: AI-powered playlists.

There are references in the app’s code that suggest the company may be developing generative AI playlists that users could create by using prompts.

A tech veteran-turned-investor named Chris Messina uncovered the additions by posting screenshots of Spotify code that refer to “playlists based on your prompts” and “AI playlists.”

In his opinion, these could be possible within the Blend genre, in which the tastes of many users are combined to create a playlist that is enjoyed by all.

Despite being contacted for comment, Spotify declined to confirm its plans regarding AI playlists.

We are continuously iterating and innovating to enhance our product offerings and provide value to our customers. According to a spokesperson for TechCrunch, the company does not comment on speculation concerning potential new features and does not have any new information to share at this time.

Nevertheless, Spotify may have already laid the foundation for AI playlists by developing a feature called Niche Mixes, which allows users to create unique playlists based on a description alone.

With Niche Mixes, you are able to specify almost anything when creating a playlist, from a genre to a vibe or aesthetic, such as Cottagecore Indie Mix, Bubblegum Pop Mix, Discofox Mix, Feel Good Driving Mix, Fun Road Trip Mix, Travel Mashup Mix, and many more.

The Niche Mixes were launched in March, and despite their initial appearance, they do not utilize artificial intelligence. Instead, Spotify said the mixes were determined by the company’s personalization technology and algorithms.

According to Messina, he has discovered that the new AI playlists will also be built using prompts, but he has not yet discovered this feature in the public app, only in the code.

According to him, the feature may be related to Blend, as there are also code references that indicate users can invite others to collaborate on AI playlists.

This is clearly a new, in-development feature as all the lines of code were discovered in the latest build of the Spotify application.

Obviously, not every feature that a company develops internally for testing will be released to the public, but it is an indication of how Spotify considers the role AI can play in personalizing music.

A feature such as the AI DJ would not be the end of Spotify’s adoption of artificial intelligence, as the company had previously indicated.

In a conversation at Spotify’s event earlier this year,

Head of personalization, Ziad Sultan, told us that a team is working on the latest language models.

He stated that Spotify has several hundred people working on personalization and machine learning techniques, including a large research team focused on “all the possibilities across large language models, generative voice, and personalization.”

At the same time, TechCrunch reported that was exploring the possibility of creating a ChatGPT-like chatbot that users could use to request music, but no details regarding the launch had been finalized.

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