I tried Spotify's new upgrade and it's a game-changer for playlists

In times gone by there used to be nothing more romantic (or awkward) than creating someone a mixtape, and then Spotify happened and now hopeless romantics everywhere make playlists for the apple of their eye. Well now, that gesture just got a lot less grand, with Spotify's new AI-generated playlists. 

I'm normally a bit sceptical of AI features, Spotfy's AI DJ is just a bit cringe if you ask me, but this latest one seems to be playing all the right notes. Just added in beta form for UK and Australian subscribers, you can enter a chatGPT style prompt and in seconds get a playlist to match the subject.

To test its knowledge and song selections, I used my co-worker Sam as a Guinea Pig. I gave the prompt "Sam is a 27-year-old guy who works at a tech company. He has tattoos and likes nice watches. Make a playlist for him." 

It came back almost instantly with a playlist brilliantly dubbed "Tech, Tattoos & Timepieces" and featured a large number of songs he knew and loved. Terrifying yes, but also great if you want to impress someone at a party. 

Of course, it's not just capable of creating playlists for specific people, but also for moods, or occasions. You can ask for a "Soundtrack to a summer party" for example and then be free to go and mingle, knowing the AI will play some suitable stuff. 

You can even go more abstract with it. Ever the playful sort, I typed in "Smelly old shoes" and was met with failure, but then asking for "Songs like smelly old shoes" I was treated to a playlist "inspired by the essence of 'Smelly Old Shoes". This was a ten-track grunge-based playlist, so not far off. 

After creating a playlist, you can then refine it with further instructions like "make it more upbeat" to capture the mood perfectly or just tap create and it will save automatically to your library. 

Of course, we want lossless audio more, but features like these are fun.