Spotify Podcast Episodes About AI up 500% in Last Month, CEO Says

• Spotify’s CEO said the number of daily podcast episodes about AI has surged 500% in the past 30 days.
• His comments came days after the platform removed thousands of AI-generated songs for “artificial streaming.”
• But Daniel Ek added that AI will become “a big presence on the platform” as more tools emerge.

As the AI ​​hype continues to grow, Spotify’s podcasters are also joining the fray.

The number of daily podcast episodes about AI has grown by almost 500% on Spotify in the last 30 days, said CEO Daniel Ek. tweeted Thursday.

“There is a lot of talk about AI right now,” he said. “I looked at trends on Spotify and the growth is pretty insane.”

The Swedish billionaire added that the same figure has increased by nearly 400% since the beginning of 2023.

As an example of the recent boom, the description shows that all six episodes of computer scientist Rex Fridman’s podcast over the past 30 days have discussed AI.

Friedman, who works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and co-authored research on AI, has been involved in controversial debates about vaccine safety and gender roles, as reported by Insider’s Julia Black. AI seems to be a higher priority now.

of reply In response to a user question, Ek said he believes there will be “a lot of AI-powered tools to help with creation, so that’s going to be a big thing on the platform.”

Ek’s tweet comes two days after the Financial Times reported that Spotify had removed tens of thousands of AI-generated songs from Boomy.

But that’s because of “artificial streaming” (bots are used to inflate viewership), and 93% of tracks uploaded by AI music startups are still online.

In February, Spotify debuted a new DJ feature. It is an AI-powered recommendation tool that partially uses technology from his OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT.

Spotify did not immediately respond to an insider’s request for comment.