YouTube Music has unveiled an innovative playlist generator powered by artificial intelligence, exclusively for Premium subscribers using iOS and Android devices.
This new feature, highlighted in an post on X, can be found under the “New” button within the Library tab. This tool allows subscribers to create personalized playlists by describing their musical preferences through text or voice commands.
With this launch, YouTube Music joins competitors like Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer, who have already introduced similar features in recent years. In December, Spotify added a functionality allowing users to build personalized playlists through text prompts, following a beta release of its AI Playlist tool over a year earlier.
This rollout coincides with YouTube Music’s strategy to enhance its Premium subscription services. In a recent update, the platform began restricting song lyrics access for free users within the app, as noted by 9to5Google. YouTube Music clarified to TechCrunch that this limitation is an experiment affecting only “a small percentage of ad-supported users,” ensuring that the majority of free users still have access to lyrics.
As reported by Music Business Worldwide, YouTube Music has emerged as a critical growth engine for Alphabet. The subscription segment encompassing YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, and NFL Sunday Ticket is generating approximately $20 billion each year.
Google has reported a robust increase in subscriptions, claiming 325 million paying users across its offerings like Google One and YouTube Premium as of Q4 2025.
During a recent earnings call, Alphabet’s Chief Business Officer Philipp Schindler indicated, “Transitioning a user from an ad-supported model to a YouTube Music and Premium subscription may slightly reduce YouTube’s ad revenue, but it positively impacts our overall business. We observed significant revenue growth in YouTube subscriptions, especially in the Music and Premium categories this quarter.”
Alphabet’s CFO Anat Ashkenazi attributed the surge in revenue across subscription platforms to an “increased demand for AI initiatives.”
Company executives further emphasized that “AI is revolutionizing the YouTube experience,” with over 1 million channels utilizing AI creation tools daily in December, according to the recent earnings report.
The new AI playlist generator follows the September introduction of an AI-powered music commentary feature in YouTube’s YouTube Labs program, a move aimed at rivaling Spotify’s AI DJ, which debuted two years ago.
YouTube’s “AI music host” offers AI-generated commentary between songs in playlists, sharing intriguing stories, trivia, and insights related to the music. This feature enhances user experience without creating an entirely new playlist.
In 2024, YouTube Music began testing an AI-generated radio feature and introduced a song recognition tool allowing users to search for music by humming, singing, or playing melodies. This development builds on Alphabet’s MusicLM, a pioneering AI tool launched in 2023, capable of producing high-fidelity music from text prompts and humming.
In the same year, YouTube Music also revealed an experimental feature enabling users to generate customized playlist artwork using AI.
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently indicated plans to substantially increase investments in AI for 2026, stating, “To address customer demand and leverage future opportunities, we anticipate our capital expenditures in 2026 will range from $175 billion to $185 billion.”
Music Business Worldwide
