Spotify already uses a lot of AI (too much some might say) for things like remixing and even generating your own personal podcast via prompts. Now, the company is finally letting paid users control the app with their voice or text to do things like create playlists, learn about songs or explore their listening history. 

“By typing or speaking directly in the app, you can have a back-and-forth conversation to choose what’s playing, learn about the music you love, revisit your listening history, and go deeper on podcasts and audiobooks, all without leaving Spotify,” the company wrote. 

The new feature works from within the Home or Now Playing views on mobile. From the “Talk to Spotify” feature, you can issue commands like “play some artists I haven’t heard before” then fine-tune it by saying “add some Bad Bunny” or “make it more upbeat.” When you hear a song you like, you can ask it to do things like “save this song,” “add this to my queue” or “follow this artist.” 

From the Now Playing view, you can also learn more about a song or artist. For instance, you can pose questions like “what is the inspiration behind Dua Lipa’s Radical Optimism?,” “When was this album released?” or “what genre is this?” Talk to Spotify can then answer those questions and steer you to related artists or stories. It also works with podcasts and audiobooks, letting you learn more about a podcast guest or author. The feature can even tell you about your own taste and history via questions like “When did I first listen to this song?” or “What genres have I been into recently?” 

To use Talk to Spotify, simply press the mic button in the search field to talk, or type commands instead. It’s now rolling out gradually in beta to Premium users 18 or older in the US, Ireland and Sweden across iOS and Android devices in English. It looks like an appropriate use of AI to help users control and learn about their music, though more features to help us avoid slop would be nice too.