Spotify hands listeners the wheel with AI-powered playlist prompts

Spotify’s new AI feature, Prompted Playlists, lets listeners generate playlists by describing what they want in plain English. The tool marks a shift from passive algorithmic recommendations to active user control, beginning with a beta launch in New Zealand.

A fresh twist in Spotify’s personalization journey

Spotify is stepping into a new phase of music personalization, giving listeners more control than at any point in the platform’s history. With 713 million users worldwide and a reputation for shaping how people discover music, Spotify is now turning the algorithm into something users can talk to rather than simply react to.

For a company that helped define algorithmic discovery with features like Discover Weekly and Release Radar, Prompted Playlists represents a deliberate shift. Instead of waiting for the algorithm to guess what listeners want, Spotify is handing them a steering wheel. This move also reflects a rising trend in consumer apps: users expect deeper customization, more transparency, and tools that adapt to their lifestyle rather than the other way around.

How prompted playlists really work

Starting from December 11, Spotify Premium listeners in New Zealand will be getting a jumpstart on using Prompted Playlists. This is a feature that lets you put in all sorts of instructions, like, say, "Give me songs from the top artists I've been following for the past five years, the ones that I probably haven't listened to but should have."

• like: "Mix up the high-energy pop and hip-hop that'll keep me going for a 30-minute run, then smooth it out with some mellow tracks to help me cool down afterwards."

• or: "I want to hear the music from the top movies and shows of the year, only the tracks that I actually like."

The way it works is that Spotify uses your entire music history every single thing you've ever listened to on the platform—to build a playlist that's tailored just for you. And the best part is, it can adjust and change as your listening habits do, so you can get a fresh playlist every day or every week. And if you're not entirely happy with it, you can just go back and rewrite your prompt to fine-tune it a bit.

Each playlist also comes with a little explanation that says why a particular track made it onto the list; that's Spotify's way of trying to make their recommendations a bit more upfront and personal. To get you started, Spotify's music experts have even put together some sample prompts, so if you're stuck for ideas, you've got a bit of inspiration to get going.

Why this thing launching is such a big deal

We already know that Spotify listeners have made nearly 9 billion playlists, which is a pretty big deal in itself. Even with all the fancy AI-powered recommendation systems out there, people still really respond to playlists that have been put together by a human, so it's clear that prompted playlists are going to be a big deal.

Until now, building a playlist with all sorts of complicated logic was something only the engineers at Spotify could do in the background. But Prompted Playlists opens this up to pretty much anyone, which can only be a good thing. It also means that artists might finally get a bit more love. The more specific the prompts that people use, the more chance that a track or an emerging artist might get noticed, even if they're not one of the big players.

For the industry as a whole, this is a pretty big deal too. Spotify is doing a great job of pushing the boundaries of how music discovery can be done with technology, especially when it's up against other players like Apple Music and YouTube Music, who are pushing their own AI-powered personalization.

Spotify's expanding AI plans

Prompted playlists don't show up all by themselves; they're part of a bigger picture. Spotify also gave its Premium subscribers in the US and Canada access to a ton more music videos this year after testing it out in almost 100 markets. It's not a huge library yet, but that's kind of the point. Spotify wants to make it harder for YouTube to be the only game in town by giving listeners a better video experience.

Combined with earlier AI tools such as the AI DJ, Spotify is building a connected ecosystem where audio and video recommendations evolve in real time, guided by both behavior and context.

What's coming next for Spotify users

Spotify says Prompted Playlists are just the beginning of a long-term effort to make Spotify way more intuitive and responsive. Their 2026 roadmap is full of hints about all sorts of new features, more personalization, more tools for creators, and even more places around the world where you'll be able to get in on the AI action.

For listeners, this means a major shift: instead of waiting for Spotify to understand their taste, they can now shape it with simple instructions. As the beta spreads to more countries, the way people build playlists, and the way artists find fans, may change in meaningful ways.

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