Spotify's new AI chat feature lets you control music like you're talking to a friend

Jon Fingas

Tue, July 14, 2026 at 3:20 PM UTC

Somebody that I used to know playing on Spotify on a Pixel, iPad, and Windows PC. — Dibakar Ghosh | How-To Geek

Spotify just made controlling music as easy as talking to a friend. The streaming service is introducing a "conversational experience" beta for Premium subscribers that let you have back-and-forth voice or text conversations to control and learn about whatever you're playing.

The new feature lets you control music as specifically (or vaguely) as you like. You can ask Spotify to "add music from Above & Beyond" to your queue, but then narrow it down to "just their most recent stuff." You can even explore your history, such as the first time you played a song or the genres you listen to most often.

You can also learn more about the content itself, whether it's music, an audiobook, or a podcast. You can ask about the concepts behind an album, which podcasts a guest has appeared on, and the books an author has written. You won't have to visit a page or website just to get a full sense of an artist's scope.

Spotify's use of AI continues

This isn't the first time the streaming service introduced a new AI feature

Two phones side by side showing Spotify playing We Are Never Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift and Apple Music playing A Thousand Years by Christina Perri. — Dibakar Ghosh | How-To Geek

Spotify is rolling out the conversational feature to English-speaking adult Premium members in the U.S., Ireland, and Sweden, starting on Android and iOS. The company cautions that its AI is a "work in progress" and won't always respond correctly.

This isn't Spotify's first major AI feature. It introduced an AI DJ that (ideally) provides a truly personalized music mix and even released an experimental AI app that integrates audio into your daily schedule . However, the conversation feature theoretically changes how you control the software itself — you're having a chat, not tapping buttons. While rivals like Apple Music and Amazon Music have layers of natural voice control, their features aren't always as robust.

Spotify updated its discovery playlist features, too

You're more likely to find the new music you want

The AI conversation launch comes just days after Spotify updated its weekly discovery playlists to provide more control over how you explore new-to-you music.

Release Radar now lets you personalize the playlist with specific genres, editors' choices, and whether you've heard an artist before. Its recommendations more closely reflect your tastes, according to Spotify. The changes are visible now in both the desktop and mobile apps.

These come on top of recent upgrades, including editor-guided video recommendations for New Music Friday as well as last year's genre customizations for Discover Weekly.

With these and AI chats, Spotify's focus is clear: it wants you to stay within the app as often as possible. If you can simply ask Spotify about new songs or artists, you're theoretically more likely to stay subscribed. This is particularly important given that iOS 27 and Siri AI are just around the corner — Apple Music listeners are about to get similarly powerful controls.

Check out Yahoo's latest streaming advice, based on hands-on testing.

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Spotify's use of AI continues

This isn't the first time the streaming service introduced a new AI feature

Spotify updated its discovery playlist features, too

You're more likely to find the new music you want

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