The newest feature in the YouTube Music app is the chance to make AI-generated playlists, much like a recently introduced feature in the Spotify app.
I use YouTube Music for all my streaming needs, and as a Premium subscriber, the AI-generated playlist feature has popped up as an option.
Here’s what it does, whether it’s any good, and if it’s better than Spotify’s Prompted Playlist feature.
How does it work?
A good use of AI?
Before we get started, it’s worth pointing out that you have to be a Premium subscriber to see the AI Playlist feature, so if you’re not, it won’t show up.
Provided you are, open the YouTube Music app and select Library from the menu at the bottom of the screen. Tap the New button and choose the AI Playlist option that appears alongside the standard Playlist and Mix options.
From here, you can use pre-generated prompts based on your tastes to generate a playlist, or add your own prompt and let YouTube Music do the rest.
It’s all very easy, and when you’re all set, it takes just a few moments for it to come up with a personalized playlist.
What are the playlists like?
Good at understanding prompts
To test the feature, I tried YouTube Music’s own playlist ideas, plus a series of different prompts I gave it.
Some were quite specific, others quite open, just to see if it would stick to songs that I’d already liked or listened to, and how much of the playlist would be based on discovery.
The pre-generated options are interesting. Some options were spot-on, such as “South Korean pop divas,” “Catchy Japanese songs,” “Songs with cute and charming vibes,” and “Euphoric electronica.” All things I may search for myself.
The list of options refreshes each time you open the feature, and it can get really specific, such as “4th get K-pop,” which reduces the need for you to come up with your own prompt.
For the relatively general “Songs with cute and charming vibes,” it came up with a 24-song playlist with an even split of songs I knew and songs I hadn’t heard before, but all from artists I was familiar with.
Scanning the list made me want to listen, which is a very good start.
What about discovery?
Not its strong point
The AI pulls its suggestions from the YouTube Music catalog, and presumably uses your preferences, which it has learned over time to inform its choices.
This could mean it’s useful for creating playlists with an emphasis on new music.
Unfortunately, using a “Music that’s new to me” prompt was not very impressive. It added just three songs to the playlist, and while they were indeed new to me, it’d be all done in less than 10 minutes.
I refuse to believe there are only three songs I haven’t heard before.
I asked the app to create a playlist featuring songs from artists I like, but hadn’t heard before, and this time, it couldn’t generate a playlist at all.
This is where the feature’s limitations become obvious. It’ll sprinkle songs you may not know into its playlists, but it doesn’t really know you, so don’t expect it to work as a strong discovery tool for new music.
The way to circumvent this is to either be very general, and simply ask for music genres and add in a time frame, or to be very specific about what you want to hear.
For example, it came up with 25 great entries for a “90s house” playlist, many of which I didn’t know, or hadn’t heard for a long time.
Or you can get creative. Using the prompt “Music that sounds like The KLF, but not from after 2002, and without anything by The Shamen” produced a strong playlist totaling more than two hours.
It’s definitely possible to have a lot of fun with the AI Playlist feature.
Anything else that’s good?
Sensible choices
There’s no limit to the amount of playlists you can generate, and the feature encourages you to use it regularly, due to the always-changing list of its own prompts.
There’s a sensible feature choice when listening to the playlists too, as you don’t have to save it before listening. It plays automatically after generating, and there’s a big Create button which saves it to your playlist library.
This stops your library being slowly filled up with either failed playlists, or lists that you don’t want to listen to again.
How does it compare to Spotify?
My subscription is safe, for now
Although I’m not a Spotify subscriber, looking at its Prompted Playlist feature, there’s quite a bit missing from YouTube Music’s AI Playlists.
Save a playlist, and you don’t see the prompt used to generate it, like you can on Spotify, and there’s no option to remove a single song and say you don’t like it, without simply deleting it from the playlist, and it’s not clear whether this influences future suggestions.
YouTube Music will generate a playlist based on a prompt for songs you haven’t played for a period of time, but it does inject random songs from outside your listening.
It seems Spotify’s Prompted Playlist feature will let you get more granular in your prompts, for a more personal playlist.
It appears Spotify subscribers shouldn’t rush to switch to YouTube Music for the AI Playlist feature. However, if YouTube Music folk enjoy AI Playlists and want a little more, then trying Spotify may be a good idea.
For my needs, AI Playlist is sufficient, and the greater benefits of a YouTube Premium subscription mean I won’t be looking enviously at Spotify.
However, I hope this isn’t the feature’s final form, and further enhancements are to come. Consider it a decent starting point for now.
