• Spotify has detailed a new feature called AI Playlist that it is currently rolling out in beta for selected users to try.
• The feature creates playlists based on user prompts, although it’s unclear how this is different to the algorithm the streaming platform already employs.
• It is available in the UK and Australia only for now on iOS and Android.

Spotify, like many other companies, has been dabbling in AI in order to see what the pervasive technology can bring to its already popular music streaming platform. Last year that involved the launch of an AI DJ feature which was more miss than hit in our opinion, but now the company is testing out an AI Playlist feature too.

As the name would suggest, this feature uses AI and user-generated prompts in order to create a playlist.

Per TechCrunch, the new feature is only accessible to selected users in the UK and Australia, with new iterations said to be rolling out over the coming months, so it will still be awhile before those in South Africa and other parts of the world will be able to give it a try.

You may be asking how are the user-generated prompts different from the times when Spotify asks you to select artists or genres of music in order to improve its algorithm’s recommendations, just as we did, but the company explains that the prompts can be quite nuanced.

For example, you can ask AI Playlist to generate a mix of songs that would be good to “serenade my cat” or “battle a zombie apocalypse”.

As such, you can get quite specific with your prompts, with the technology behind the AI Playlist capable of handling suggestions that range across places, animals, activities, movie characters, colours, and even emojis. That said, the company does note that adding genres, artists, moods, and decades will help refine the quality of the playlist generated even further.

As for the technology behind this new feature, much like its carefully guarded algorithm, Spotify simply notes that it is leveraging large language models (LLMs) in order to power its AI Playlist, although it does not detail whether this is built in-house or utilising something from another generative AI firm.

Either way it will be interesting to see whether this new feature proves more useful, as well as more used, than the divisive AI DJ.

At the time of writing, there is no word from Spotify on when or indeed if the current beta will be rolled out to other regions.