If you’re anything like me, you’ll come back to a book or TV show after pausing it for a few days or weeks, only to have to spend hours on a wiki reminding yourself of where you left off, while also trying to dodge spoilers. Spotify is doing its best to fix at least one of those problems, by testing AI recaps for some of its audiobooks.
It’s the first new AI-powered feature in a while that I would actually use. In fact, I’ve played a few video games with similar features (not powered by AI, admittedly), and it’s always such a value-add that it makes me pine for it in pretty much every other piece of media I engage with.
Here’s how Spotify’s new feature works: First, you unfortunately do need to be using the Spotify app for iOS, so Android, web, or desktop listeners are out of luck, at least during this beta test. Then, you’ll need to have listened to a supported English language audiobook for at least 15-20 minutes. After that, you’ll see a Recap button at the top of the page that will quickly generate a one- to two-minute-long summary of what’s happened in the book so far, which Spotify promises will be spoiler-free for future plot events.
Credit: Spotify
Previously on [your book]
Spotify’s likening it to a “previously on” segment on a TV show, although it also says that, “Recaps do not replicate narration or replace the original audiobook in any way,” so don’t expect to hear actual clips from the book, nor an AI voice trying to mimic the narrator. However, just as TV’s “previously on” segments will change with new episodes, your AI Recap will be “regularly updated to match your progress.”
As for any potential issues with the feature, the company says it is “not using audiobook content for LLM training purposes or voice generation” and that authors can opt out of having Recaps on their books. Still, there are a few caveats, including the fact that the Recap feature isn’t free.
On the plus side, it is included alongside the free audiobook hours you get with Spotify Premium, as well as any add-on hours you might buy. But otherwise, audiobooks on Spotify need to be bought on a per-book basis, so for users without Spotify Premium and with no audiobooks in their libraries (that’s me), there’s no way to try AI Recaps before you buy, which means it’s maybe not a convincing reason to swap audiobook platforms just yet.
Not all books will get Recaps
Spotify’s also not being upfront about which books have Recaps, so it could be a bit before you see the button pop up for you. So while I like the idea in theory, I’m probably not going to get to test it anytime soon. (I’ve reached out to Spotify to ask for a current list of books with Recaps enabled, and will update this article when I hear back.)
Could Recaps include hallucinations?
Another potential issue with these Recaps: hallucinations. Spotify didn’t address accuracy at all in its announcement, which I’d like to think implies the company is feeling pretty confident it won’t be an issue. But there is still a potential for an AI to misreport specific details of your story, or accidentally slip a spoiler in regardless of what Spotify claims. One would hope your memory would be jogged enough by a general outline to catch inconsistencies, but still, it might be worth keeping a few notes while you read, just in case.
How to get AI summaries for any book (without using Spotify)
If you aren’t a Spotify audiobook listener or just haven’t gotten to try the beta, I’ll give you a cheat: You can already ask other AI chatbots for book summaries for free. So long as you remember where you left off, just head over to your AI of choice and ask for a summary up to that point. Here’s one for the opening chapters of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt (via ChatGPT)
I won’t deny that there’s real convenience in having a summary feature baked directly into your app, especially one that doesn’t require you to cross reference where you left off lest you, I don’t know, spoil the Red Wedding for yourself or something. But if you’re like me (not a Spotify audiobook customer), at least you’re not out of options.
