Never Lose Your Place: Spotify’s AI Recaps Your Audiobook
▼ Summary
– Spotify is launching an AI feature called Recaps that summarizes previously heard sections of audiobooks without requiring rewinding.
– The feature will initially be available on iOS for select English-language audiobooks and requires listening to 15-20 minutes before summaries are generated.
– Recaps are designed to help users finish books they start and are regularly updated as listeners progress through the audiobook.
– Author J.H. Markert praised the feature as an “audio bookmark that speaks” and described it as sophisticated and essential for audiobook lovers.
– Spotify confirmed that Recaps use AI but do not use audiobook content for LLM training or voice generation, protecting original works and narration.
For audiobook listeners who sometimes lose track of a complex plot or need a quick refresher after taking a break, Spotify has introduced an innovative AI-powered feature called Recaps. This tool automatically generates summaries of the content you have already listened to, functioning much like the “previously on” segments found at the beginning of television episodes. The goal is to help listeners easily pick up where they left off and encourage them to complete the books they start.
Currently available on the iOS app for a select group of English-language audiobooks, Spotify plans to expand the availability of Recaps to more titles in the future. To access a summary, users must listen to at least 15 to 20 minutes of a supported audiobook. Once this threshold is met, the Recap button becomes active, and the summaries are regularly updated as the listener progresses through the story.
Author J.H. Markert, known for his true-crime works, praised the feature on Spotify’s blog, describing it as “an audio bookmark that speaks.” He expressed amazement after trying it, calling it both sophisticated and smart, and recommended it as essential for any audiobook enthusiast.
Spotify has emphasized that while artificial intelligence drives the Recaps feature, it does not use audiobook content for large language model training or voice generation. Paul Bennett, Spotify’s research director of LLMs, clarified in a blog post that the original works, including the book’s text and narration, remain fully protected. Recaps are designed only to assist listeners and do not replicate or replace any part of the original audiobook experience.
(Source: The Verge)
