Social media users criticize Spotify for leaning towards AI for 2024 ‘Wrapped’

Spotify released its highly anticipated, annual ‘Wrapped’ on Wednesday (December 4), but listeners have been left disappointed by the streaming giant’s ‘dull’ and ‘disappointing’ effort. This year’s Spotify Wrapped didn’t provide listeners with their top music genres, or their top albums. Instead, a strange surprise, dubbed “Wrapped AI Podcasts”, was served up, which used Google’s NotebookLM technology to verbally replicate users’ listening habits. This quirky addition included artificial intelligence (AI) voices elaborating on the data points mentioned in Wrapped.

Users have since taken to social media to attack Spotify for leaning heavily into AI and creating something that didn’t feel like it Wrapped Of last years.

One user said, “Spotify Wrapped is very weak and reeks of AI… There seems to be a real lack of effort this year from boring visuals to missing genres and quirks,” while another said: “Hi, I’m only here Just coming to remind you all you know AI is going to ruin the world and the Spotify wrap is the perfect dramatic example of that.”

A third said: ‘So apparently Spotify fired a lot of employees and used AI to make this year’s Wrapped, no wonder it sucks.’

Last year, Spotify gave listeners their own custom “Sound Towns” that matched their music tastes to real-world locations, which received widespread praise. However, this year, users were given a “Music Evolution” list detailing a selection of bizarrely titled musical micro-genres. From “coastal grandmother fingerstyle yacht rock” to “bougie football rap” to “pink Pilates princess roller skating pop” – listeners were left confused as to what these descriptions meant.

While it’s unclear whether Wrapped’s use involved AI, Spotify said in a statement that it was aiming to make it “more about users” with “AI experiences” later this year.

Spotify said, “Through the combination of Spotify’s powerful personalization technology and generative AI, we’ve created hyper-personalized Wrapped experiences that connect millions of listeners around the world to the music and audio they love.”

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What is Spotify Wrapped?

Spotify Wrapped is a viral marketing campaign from the Swedish company, released in late November or early December every year since 2016. This allows users to view a compilation of their listening activity which typically includes the top five songs, most listened to singers and their matching music genres.

A colorful pictorial representation of the data is presented in various slides that users can later post on social media.