Itâs a cliché at this point to say that podcasts (and, to a less publicized extent, audiobooks) have a discovery problem. To help fix that, Spotify announced itâs using Google Cloudâs AI tools to improve both content discovery and personalized recommendations for its audio offerings.
Technology
Spotify’s podcast and audiobook discovery will get a boost from Google Cloud’s AI
Spotify will use Google’s AI tools to improve content discovery and personalized recommendations.
With this latest move, Spotify is using Google Cloudâs LLMs (large language models) to analyze the roughly 5 million podcasts and 350,000 audiobooks in its content library with a goal of trying to âaugmentâ the metadata, according to a press release. (The Verge has reached out to Spotify to clarify exactly what âaugmentâ means in this case). A podcast or audiobookâs metadata includes information like the title, the name of the host or author, show notes, and other details â all of which come up in the search results of podcast apps like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.Â
Google Cloud is Spotifyâs sole cloud provider, and as Protocol reported back in 2021, the two companies have been working together on more services.
Identifying âharmfulâ content appears to be another aim of Spotifyâs Google Cloud AI experiment, though the company didnât specify much about what that will entail. The platformâs rules for podcasters and musicians ban several types of âsensitiveâ and âdangerousâ content â and it currently uses a mix of automated technology and human reviewers to enforce these rules. The Verge has reached out to Spotify for more details and will update when we hear back.Â
Google Cloudâs AI tools will also be used to improve Spotifyâs personalized recommendations for podcasts and audiobooks. LLMs will be used to âbetter understand patterns behind usersâ favorite spoken content,â which will presumably result in better tailored recommendations.
Currently, Spotify will suggest new podcasts and individual episodes to listeners on their homescreen. On each podcastâs show page, thereâs also a âMore like this sectionâ with similar podcasts. Both features can be hit-or-miss, as many users have noted. (For example, Spotifyâs recommendations for Overheard at National Geographic include a podcast about nursing, one on bipolar disorder, and a true crime podcast.)Â
Earlier this year, Spotify rolled out an AI tool for songs, AI DJ, which uses OpenAIâs generative AI tools to create custom playlists. So far, reviews of the feature have been mixed. Spotifyâs use of AI for spoken audio isnât a standalone feature like AI DJ, but itâs a sign that the company is serious about improving the user experience for its non-music offerings.