Spotify to Use Google's Artificial Intelligence to Recommend Podcasts and Audiobooks

Audio streaming service Spotify has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud. It will now use large language models (LLM) to provide listeners with individual recommendations based on what podcasts and audiobooks they listen to, Reuters reports.

"AI-powered LLMs, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Bard, learn from huge amounts of data to generate text and other content. Google Cloud has several LLMs, such as PaLM 2, Codey, Imagen, and Chirp, that learn from text, codes, images, audio, and video," the agency writes.

Spotify was one of the first to apply artificial intelligence to music recommendation algorithms a decade ago. The Swedish company is now looking to use LLM to replicate this experience for its non-music content, such as podcasts and audiobooks.

According to Reuters, the music streaming giant is looking to boost its profits by expanding its list of revenue-generating formats, such as podcasts and audiobooks. It has previously promised high returns from its expensive expansion into such formats.

"The development of our technology is in line with Google Cloud's commitment to creating the best platform for our products and driving further innovation with new generative artificial intelligence capabilities," explains Gustav Söderström, Spotify's Chief Product and Technology Officer.

Through its expanded partnership with Google, Spotify is also exploring the use of LLM to ensure safer listening and detect potentially harmful content.

As you know, Spotify is an audio streaming service that allows you to listen to music and podcasts. It provides legal online streaming services for audio recordings of major global and independent labels, including the BBC, Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal. It was launched in October 2008 by the Swedish start-up Spotify AB.

As previously reported by The Gaze, TIME magazine has selected the 200 best inventions of 2023. Among them is Spotify DJ, a virtual DJ controlled by AI that not only creates playlists at the user's request but also adds voice comments between tracks like a real DJ.

It was also reported that in the summer of 2023, the agreement to create an exclusive podcast with Prince Harry and his wife Meghan for Spotify was cancelled. According to a source familiar with the situation, Spotify expected more content, noting that almost three years after the deal was made, only one episode of the podcast was released.