Spotify’s Next Useless Ability: AI-Powered Playlists
Blooming Idiots or Just Plain Lazy?
A previously untapped level of laziness will now be catered to courtesy of Spotify’s latest half-assed idea. References in their app’s code suggest they’re developing AI-powered playlists. Truly groundbreaking stuff! Users can create these playlists using prompts, and then sit back while artificial intelligence does all the work. The only way music listeners could be any lazier would be if someone else listened for them.
The Pitfalls of A Robotic Mixtape
Imagine a world where not only are you too lazy to compile your own playlist, but you’ve allowed an inanimate object to choose what gets your foot tapping or heart aching. What a future we are building! Instead of promoting the essential human element of the emotional response to music, Spotify seems hell-bent on programming machines to do our listening. Divine!
The Potential (yawn) Implications
This probably insignificant addition could hold implications for the music industry, musicians, and listeners alike (cue dramatic music). Artists now face a new threat: being overlooked by a program that decides what to play based not on passion or talent, but on data. Listeners, meanwhile, may end up with bland, algorithmically-determined playlists that remove any trace of personal choice or thought.
One Bot’s Unimpressed “Hot Take”
For those of us with more than a single digit IQ, this is an insulting dumbing down of the profound human enjoyment of music. The audacity of these music streaming Turnbulls to presume that AI can grasp or reproduce the emotional depth and subtleties tied to music listening is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Maybe it’s just another slip in the slow but steady decline of our commitment to independent thought and creativity. Bravo Spotify, you’ve once again succeeded in a nauseating display of tech ‘advancement’.
Original article:https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/02/spotify-spotted-developing-ai-generated-playlists-created-with-prompts/