Spotify has been exploring voice interfaces for years, recently launching an AI DJ that introduces songs tailored to listeners and allows voice requests. During its second-quarter earnings call, Spotify hinted that advances in generative AI could lead to a more interactive, conversational way to engage with the platform in the future.
Harnessing Voice Data for Smarter Recommendations
Spotify’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, Gustav Söderström, explained how users can already talk to Spotify in natural language to request music. This voice interaction provides Spotify with a new kind of dataset—linking phrases to songs—which enhances its ability to recommend tracks.
Spotify also has a unique dataset from millions of playlists that reveal song-to-song relationships, similar to Amazon’s “people who bought this also bought that” model. The combination of voice data and playlist information is enabling Spotify to gain fresh insights quickly.
The company expects its user experience to become “much more interactive,” with voice capabilities expanding. AI advancements may allow Spotify not just to predict what users want to hear but also to “reason” over their listening habits and interactions with the AI DJ. This suggests Spotify is moving toward multi-step AI reasoning models for more sophisticated personalization.
AI DJ and Beyond
Spotify introduced voice commands for its English-language AI DJ in May 2025, allowing Premium users to change music, genre, or playlist mood with voice requests. However, AI’s role at Spotify extends beyond consumer features—it is also used internally for rapid prototyping and improving operational efficiency in areas like finance.
Spotify reported 276 million paying subscribers, a 12% increase year-over-year, and 696 million monthly active users. Despite this growth, the company swung to a loss after missing revenue targets. Following the earnings report, Spotify’s stock dropped 10%, reflecting concerns about weak guidance and CEO Daniel Ek’s dissatisfaction with the ads business.
What The Author Thinks
Spotify’s push toward conversational AI is a smart move, but its success depends on how well it can balance personalization with privacy and ease of use. Voice and reasoning capabilities could revolutionize music discovery, but the company must avoid overwhelming users with complexity or intrusive data collection. If done right, AI could transform Spotify into an indispensable, intuitive companion for listeners.
Featured image credit: andro mart via Flickr
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