YouTube Music launched AI-powered playlist generator for premium users

YouTube Music has launched an AI-powered playlist generator for Premium subscribers on iOS and Android. The feature allows users to create playlists by entering text or voice prompts describing their preferences, such as mood, genre, or specific ideas. It is accessed via the “New” button in the Library tab of the YouTube Music app.

The rollout, announced in February 2026, follows similar tools already available on Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer. Spotify introduced its text-prompt playlist feature in December 2025, after testing an AI playlist tool in beta the previous year.

The launch forms part of YouTube’s efforts to strengthen its Premium offerings. In a related move, YouTube Music has begun limiting lyrics access for some free users.

According to reports, the change is an experiment affecting a small percentage of ad-supported users, with lyrics remaining available to most free users. YouTube Music described it as a test, while free users now receive only a limited number of lyric views before prompts to subscribe appear.

YouTube Music continues to drive growth for Alphabet. The company’s subscription business, including YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, YouTube TV, and NFL Sunday Ticket, generates about $20 billion annually.

In Q4 2025, Alphabet reported 325 million paying users across Google One and YouTube Premium. During the earnings call, Alphabet executives noted strong revenue growth in YouTube subscriptions, particularly in Music and Premium categories.

Philipp Schindler, Chief Business Officer, Alphabet, said shifting users from ad-supported to paid subscriptions has a slightly negative effect on ad revenue but a positive overall business impact. Anat Ashkenazi, CFO of  Alphabet, linked increases in subscription revenues to demand for AI-related plans.

Executives said that AI is changing the YouTube experience for creators and viewers. Over 1 million channels used YouTube’s AI creation tools daily in December 2025, according to reports. The AI playlist generator follows other recent additions, including an experimental AI music commentary feature launched in September through YouTube Labs.

This “AI music host” provides voice commentary, stories, and trivia between songs on user-selected playlists, similar to Spotify’s AI DJ.

In 2024, YouTube Music tested an AI-generated radio feature and introduced a song recognition tool that identifies tracks from humming, singing, or playing. These build on Alphabet’s MusicLM, an experimental AI model from 2023 that generates music from text or audio inputs.