Spotify is a music and podcast streaming platform. Recent coverage has focused on its handling of AI-generated content: it removed about 50 million tracks deemed AI slop or spam from recommendations over the past year and requires "AI persona" badges for non-human artists. Spotify reported 788 million monthly active users and nearly €5 billion in quarterly revenue, and co-CEO Gustav Söderström said it is integrated with Meta's Muse, ChatGPT and Claude, treating AI agents as a tailwind.
Open-source browser rhythm game runs four local neural nets on your songsA developer released Struna, an open-source browser rhythm game that runs four audio models—BeatNet, Basic Pitch, Spleeter's vocal separator and SwiftF0—locally via onnxruntime-web, totaling about 22MB, with no uploads. Their beat, note and pitch outputs shape the levels, and plain DSP serves as a fallback on slow devices. The code is MIT-licensed.
Spotify sees AI agents as a tailwind, not a threatSpotify reported 788 million monthly active users and nearly €5 billion in quarterly revenue. Co-CEO Gustav Söderström argues entertainment is not a chore agents replace, so users will ask assistants to pick music and podcasts; Spotify is already integrated with Meta's Muse, ChatGPT and Claude and aims to be agents' preferred media service.
Spotify removed about 50M AI slop songs in a yearSpotify said it removed about 50 million songs deemed AI slop from recommendations over the past year, requires 'AI persona' badges for non-human artists but not labels on AI-generated tracks. Fans are rejecting AI music, and even boosters like Grimes and A$AP Rocky say they won't make it themselves.
Spotify pulled 50M AI slop and spam tracks from recommendationsSpotify said it removed more than 50 million tracks deemed AI slop or spam from recommendations over the past year and adjusted its system to favor human-made music. It reports fewer listener complaints but has not mandated labels on all AI tracks.
Nordics Accelerate AI Infrastructure ExpansionThe Nordics are emerging as one of Europe's fastest-growing infrastructure hubs, with a projected 1GW of AI cloud capacity by end-2027. Sweden's Sferical One supercomputer runs 16 racks of NVIDIA DGX GB300 systems with 1,152 GPUs, while companies like Spotify build proprietary intelligence on NVIDIA infrastructure.
Deezer to launch AI music filter by year-endDeezer will roll out a toggle by year-end letting users filter AI-generated tracks, albums, and related artists from search. A survey showed about 45% of users wanted this; in July, AI tracks were over 50% of daily uploads, averaging 90,000 per day.
AI Creates a 'Human Premium' for Human-Made ArtDeezer says 44% of tracks uploaded to its platform are AI-generated and 97% of listeners could not tell AI-made music from human-made, yet over half of those surveyed said they do care whether AI created it, suggesting a possible 'human premium' for human-made art.
Apple strikes team and tech licensing deal with HuxeApple disclosed to the European Commission that it will make job offers to certain Huxe AI employees and receive a non-exclusive license to the startup's IP. The reverse acqui-hire lets Apple gain AI talent and tech without buying the startup outright. Huxe, founded by ex-NotebookLM AI podcast developers, announced its shutdown on May 21.
Chicago artists rally against AI-generated musicAbout 20 Chicago musicians rallied against AI-generated music, tech companies and streaming platforms, demanding legal safeguards for their work and planning a late-October streaming 'blackout.' They urged listeners to choose human-made music over what critics call 'AI slop.'
Neko Health investor on the $700M whole-body scan betOn the TechCrunch Equity podcast, a Neko Health investor discusses why the company, backed by Spotify founder Daniel Ek, raised $700 million for whole-body scanning. The episode also notes Midjourney is building its own body scanner and Function Health has raised significant capital, as investors bet big on preventative healthcare.
YouTube launches AI custom feedsYouTube launched custom feeds, letting users describe the videos they want in natural language and using Gemini AI to build a personalized feed pinned to their homepage. The move follows similar user-controlled algorithm tools from Bluesky, Meta, and Spotify.
Spotify launches Taste Profile in the USSpotify is rolling out Taste Profile to US Premium users, letting them view how it understands their music and audio tastes and reshape recommendations via natural language. The AI-powered feature, unveiled at SXSW in March, was previously in beta only in New Zealand.
BBC explains what AI is and why people worryThe BBC outlines how AI and generative models work, their uses in recommendations, medicine, and assistants, and the concerns around energy use, ethics, and regulation. The piece calls for balancing development with safeguards.
A Vinyl Bar launches music apps, raises $5.5M pre-seedA Vinyl Bar, founded by former Spotify innovation lead Máuhan M Zonoozy, is releasing a series of small interactive “singles” apps that let users modify and create sounds. The startup closed a $5.5M pre-seed round with investors and advisor Dawn Ostroff. The product strategy focuses on shifting listeners from passive consumption to active music participation.
How to build an AI software factoryA Hacker News discussion summarizes a guide proposing an “AI software factory” with five staged gates to absorb agent-generated code, addressing the mismatch between agent output speed and human review. Examples include Spotify’s Fleetshift and dotnet/runtime experiences.
UMG and ElevenLabs launch AI music platformUniversal Music Group signed a multi-year licensing deal with ElevenLabs to build an AI platform letting users create remixes and new takes from licensed tracks; artists can opt in or out.
The A.I. Daily