YouTube Music launches AI Playlist generator exclusively for Premium subscribers

YouTube rolls out an AI playlist generator for Premium users

YouTube is rolling out a new AI-powered playlist-generation feature that allows Premium users on iOS and Android to use text prompts to create playlists. Users can go to the Library tab, tap the "New" button, and select the "AI playlist" option to get started. They can then use text or voice to enter the prompt of their choice, such as "raging death metal," "sad post rock," "progressive house mix for a chill party," "indie pop" or "90s classic hits," to build a playlist. YouTube has been toying around with using AI to create playlists for a while. In July 2024, the company was testing a feature to let people create custom radio stations using prompts in the U.S. Other rival streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music and Deezer, have also rolled out AI-powered playlist or radio creation features. YouTube has been trying to make its Premium plan more attractive to users. Earlier this week, the company started restricting free users from viewing song lyrics on the YouTube Music app. The company told TechCrunch that the restriction was an experiment it was running "with a small percentage of ad-supported users," and that song lyrics are available to the vast majority of free users. Google has seen an uptick in its subscription business, and YouTube is a key part of that division. Earlier this month, the company said it now has 325 million paying users across Google One and YouTube Premium.

Bored With Your Watchlist? YouTube Can Now Create Playlists From an AI Prompt

Google has introduced AI Playlist generation for its YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers, making it easy to whip up a selection of videos to watch or listen to based on a text prompt. Type in a genre of music, a video topic you're interested in, or even just the vibe you're looking for, YouTube says. With Google throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into AI development, it's no surprise that Gemini is making its way to YouTube, too. The platform has been trialing AI features for a while now; custom AI radio stations debuted in 2024, TechCrunch notes. Rival services like Spotify and Amazon Music are experimenting with similar features, and it's another way YouTube is looking to incentivize YouTube Premium upgrades. To use the new feature, YouTube Premium subscribers should open the YouTube Music app on iOS or Android and select the "New" button in the Library tab. Tap "AI Playlist," and it will ask you what kind of mood you're in. Input a text prompt based on what you're looking for in a new playlist, and select the arrow button on the right-hand side. It will take a minute or so to collate a few options for your new playlist, but once it's finished, it will present you with a selection of songs it wants to add to the new list. If you're happy with it, select the "Create" button. If you want to tweak it, you can remove individual songs using the minus button next to each track. The three-dot menu gives you options for shuffle play and saving the playlist, too. If you want to adjust the name of the playlist or its cover art, you can do that once it's created. If you don't see the feature yet, it's likely because it hasn't reached your territory yet. These features tend to roll out slowly over a few days or weeks. YouTube has been putting more features behind Premium subs lately. It now only allows five lyric transcribing videos for non-Premium users, and it recently cut a workaround for background viewing.

YouTube Music now lets you create playlists just by describing a vibe

Google hasn't shared many details yet, and early reactions suggest some users aren't enamored with the idea of yet more AI. Google is determined to inject AI into every aspect of its ecosystem right now. Just over the last 24 hours alone, we've seen some people chatting to Google Translate and a new Gemini integration for Google Maps in the works. Next up, YouTube Music is adding a new AI Playlist feature that lets you generate playlists by describing what you want to hear, using either text or voice prompts. The YouTube team announced the feature in an X post, confirming that it's rolling out now for YouTube Music Premium and YouTube Premium subscribers on Android and iOS. You'll find it under the Library tab by tapping New and selecting AI Playlist, where you can write or speak a mood, idea, or genre and let the app do the rest. It has a familiar Gemini logo next to it, though Google's flagship chatbot isn't explicitly named in the post. If you're asking yourself, "Didn't YouTube Music already have an AI-generated music feature?" you're not imagining it. The app has already offered Ask Music since 2024, which also lets you request music using natural language. Based on what Google has shared so far, AI Playlist sounds very similar, though it's now surfaced directly in the playlist creation flow, and seems more like a playlist generator than a radio-type experience. The move also brings YouTube Music closer to Spotify, which introduced its own prompt-based playlist creator, Prompted Playlists, just last month. The timing of YouTube Music's change is unlikely to be a complete coincidence. At this stage, it would probably be quicker to list which Google-owned apps and services don't include AI, and the initial responses in the comments section under the X post reflect a certain level of AI fatigue. Some like it, while a few are asking why they don't have it yet, but the rest are largely complaining that they didn't ask for more AI. Google hasn't said much about how flexible AI Playlist will be, or how much control you'll have after a playlist is generated. If you've already got the feature and tried it, share your experiences in the comments below.

YouTube Music adding 'AI Playlist' with text-based playlist generation

Google has announced that YouTube Music is adding a new "AI Playlist" feature that lets users generate new playlists through text prompts, but it's only for Premium subscribers. Rolling out now, "AI Playlist" in YouTube Music is a rather simple idea. Users can write in a prompt to turn "an idea, mood or genre" into a curated playlist. It's a rather open-ended feature, and one that also sounds exactly like Spotify's recent "Prompted Playlist" feature. Google explains how to use the feature in a post: "AI Playlist" in YouTube Music is also mentioned on a support page, but without any further details about how many songs the feature aims to put into a playlist, whether or not it can be edited after creation, and more details we simply don't know right now. Spotify's version of this allows users to have the playlist refreshed on a regular basis, and also allows the prompt to be edited after initial generation too. YouTube Music previously added "AI Radio" generation, which works rather similarly. Let us know in the comments below if you're seeing "AI Playlist" already.

AI-Generated Playlists Are Coming to YouTube Music

The feature is only available to YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium subscribers, and follows similar features from services like Spotify. If you're of a certain age, you might remember mixtapes: cassettes made up of a series of tracks you or a friend think work well together, or otherwise enjoy. (They took some work to put together, too.) Digital music sort of killed mixtapes, but, in their place, came playlists. You could easily put together a collection of your favorite songs, and either burn them to a CD, or, as streaming took over, let the playlist itself grow as large as you wanted. Anyone can make a playlist, but there's an art to it. Someone with a keen ear for music can build a playlist you can let play for hours. Maybe you have a friend who's good at making playlists, or maybe you're that friend in your group. They can be a fun way to share music, and find some new music to add to your own library. Now, generative AI wants to replace human intervention altogether. Rather than you or a friend building a playlist, you can ask AI to do it for you. And YouTube Music is the latest service to give it a try. YouTube announced its new AI playlist generator in a post on X on Monday. If you subscribe to either YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium, you can ask YouTube's AI to make a playlist based on whatever parameters you want. To try it out, open YouTube Music, then head to your Library and tap "New." Next, choose the new "AI Playlist" option, then enter the type of music you're looking for. You could ask YouTube Music to generate a playlist of pop-punk songs, or to make something to play when focusing on work. Really, it's whatever you want, and if the AI gets it wrong, you can try it again. This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. It's pretty straightforward, and nothing revolutionary. Other music streaming services have their own AI playlist generators too. Spotify, for example, has had one for a couple of years, but recently rolled out Prompted Playlist as well, which lets you generate playlists that update with time, and takes your listening history into account. With this update, however, YouTube is likely trying to drum up some interest in its streaming service and encourage users to pay for it. Just this week, the company put lyrics -- once a free feature -- behind the Premium paywall. I suppose it thinks that if you can't read what your favorite artists are singing, and you'd like to have a bot make your playlists for you, you might just subscribe to its platform. This could be a good change in the long run for YouTube Music subscribers. I'm on Apple Music, so I don't really use AI-generated playlists. I like the Apple-curated playlists, as well as the ones my friends and I make and share. But who knows: Maybe human-generated playlists are going the way of the mixtape.

YouTube introduces AI-powered playlists for Premium subscribers

YouTube introduces an AI-powered playlist generation feature exclusively for Premium subscribers on iOS and Android devices, enabling users to create customized playlists through text or voice prompts. The functionality operates through the Library tab where users tap the "New" button and select "AI playlist" option. Users can input various prompts including genre-specific requests like "raging death metal" or mood-based selections such as "sad post rock," "progressive house mix for a chill party," "indie pop," or "90s classic hits" to generate personalized playlists. This development continues YouTube's experimentation with AI-driven music curation. The company previously tested custom radio station creation using AI prompts in the United States during July 2024, demonstrating ongoing commitment to artificial intelligence integration. Competitors already offer similar functionalities. Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer have implemented their own AI-powered playlist and radio creation features, establishing this as an industry standard. YouTube simultaneously restricts free users from accessing song lyrics on the YouTube Music application as an experimental measure. Google maintains that lyrics remain available to the vast majority of free users despite this limitation. Google reports 325 million paying subscribers across Google One and YouTube Premium services, highlighting subscription business growth where YouTube plays a crucial role in the company's revenue strategy.