The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ

Am I naïve in expecting Artificial Intelligence to be smart? Is my interpretation of the word âintelligenceâ too literal? And when an AI behaves stupidly, whoâs to blame? The programmers or the AI entity itself? Is it even proper to make a distinction between the two? Or does the AI work in so mysterious a way that the programmers need no longer take responsibility?

I pondered these questions after I recently explored a new way to search for music in the Spotify app on my Android phone:

This is the portal to the AI-empowered Spotify DJ, and I optimistically wondered if this would finally fix longstanding blind spots in Spotify.

I should mention that my perspective might be a little different from most peopleâs because I donât listen to pop songs. I prefer music of the 500-year tradition that encompasses (in roughly chronological order) composers such as Tallis, Byrd, Dowland, Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Lully, Blow, Corelli, Purcell, Vivaldi, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Schubert, Berlioz, Mendelssohn (Fanny and Felix), Schumann (Robert and Clara), Chopin, Liszt, Wagner, Verdi, Brahms, Puccini, Mahler, Debussy, Strauss, Beach, Schoenberg, Ives, Ravel, Stravinsky, Berg, Price, Copland, Shostakovich, Carter, Boulez, Gubaidulina, Pärt, Reich, Glass, Eastman, León, Adams, Saariaho, J. L. Adams, Wolfe, Higdon, Adès, Thorvaldsdottir, Mazzoli, Shaw, Fisher, and many others.

Iâm aware that many people are unfamiliar with this musical tradition, but it forms one of the sturdiest pillars of what we casually refer to as âwestern civilization.â Plus, itâs a whole lot of really enthralling music.

Unfortunately, this tradition is not much respected in the sphere of digitized music. When I explored this issue back in 2009 in my blog entry Classical Music and MP3 Players, I discovered that the metadata associated with digital music files is based entirely on pop music. Each track is identified by Artist, Album, and Song tags.

Let me be clear: The use of the word âsongâ for instrumental music â that is, music that is not sung and hence is not a song â is borderline illiterate. It illustrates more than anything how the entire system is designed for pop songs. For music of the western tradition, the word âcompositionâ or âworkâ or âpieceâ is used except, of course, if the composition is actually a song. In pop music, the âartistâ is the performer; for music of the western tradition, the all-important composer is thrown in there along with the musicians or ensembles performing the music.

But the big problem is this:

Just as a novel is usually divided into chapters, many musical compositions consist of multiple movements. Almost always, the movements of a musical composition are played together in sequence like the composer intended to give the composition an overall dramatic arc. Operas and oratorios are a little different, and often consist of acts divided into numbers.

For example, Beethovenâs 7th Symphony has four movements that are generally identified numerically (I, II, III, and IV) or with names corresponding to Beethovenâs tempo markings. If you search for âBeethoven 7th Symphonyâ in Spotify, youâll get Albums that include this symphony but also a Songs list. Each of the âsongsâ in this list is an individual track of the album. They usually correspond to movements of the symphony but not in any coherent order. If nothing in the metadata indicates that these movements are part of a longer composition, Spotify remains ignorant of that fact.

Those of us who are familiar with the limitations of Spotify simply ignore the worthless Songs list and go straight to the Albums. Sometimes an album is devoted to a single composition, and sometimes an album includes multiple compositions, but the album tracks usually adequately identify the composition and the movements, and the movements are in the proper order.

But is there a better solution? Can AI fix this problem? Letâs try a few simple Spotify DJ requests:

Play Beethovenâs 7th Symphony

The DJ responds vocally with a promise to play what I requested plus âsome other classical tracks to matchâ but instead of beginning with the 1st movement of the 7th Symphony, it plays instead the 2nd movement, which is the famous Allegretto that everybody knows and loves. Then it abandons Beethoven entirely to play the Intermezzo from the opera Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni (a composer born over 30 years after Beethovenâs death), and then one movement from a Shostakovich composition misidentified as Jazz Suite No. 2, and then the Lacrimosa movement from Mozartâs Requiem, then an orchestrated Sarabande from Handelâs Keyboard Suite No. 4.

So letâs try to be more explicit.

Play Beethovenâs 7th Symphony in its entirety

The DJ says âBeethovenâs 7th Symphony. All 9 minutes of it.â All 9 minutes! It then plays just the Allegretto again, followed by a Nocturne by John Field, and then the Andante movement of Bachâs Brandenburg Concerto No. 4.

Another approach:

Play Beethovenâs 7th Symphony from beginning to end

The DJ promises to play it âfrom start to finish.â The synonyms are encouraging. The DJ seems to know what I mean. âLetâs do this,â the DJ says. âHereâs the full Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven.â Even more encouraging! But once again, it plays only the 2nd movement, followed by a John Field Nocturne.

How can this be? It is a fundamental concept that a musical composition often consists of multiple sequential movements. How can an AI built into Spotify be ignorant of this? Can it not even access the Wikipedia entry Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven) and learn about the movements from that? The first sentence of this article begins: âThe Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, is a symphony in four movements...â

Letâs be even more explicit:

Play all four movements of Beethovenâs 7th Symphony

âAll four movements. Letâs do this,â the DJ says. And finally, we hear the 1st movement of the 7th Symphony, followed by the 2nd movement but itâs a different recording with a different orchestra and a different conductor. Thatâs odd. This is followed by yet another orchestra and conductor playing⦠Yikes! Itâs the 4th movement! After the 4th movement we get the 3rd movement, again with a different orchestra and conductor.

Imagine if Spotify read the last chapter of an audio book before the penultimate chapter! Thatâs how ridiculous this is.

Of course, I immediately realized that it was my mistake. I was not specific enough. We all know that AI needs proper prompts. Let me spell it out:

Play all four movements of Beethovenâs 7th Symphony in numerical order

This time it begins with the 1st movement, but itâs not Beethovenâs 7th Symphony. Itâs Beethovenâs 3rd Symphony. Thatâs some great music but not what I asked for. This is followed by the 1st movement of the 7th Symphony, and but then continuing with the 3rd and 2nd movements in that order and skipping the 4th entirely.

The DJ then says that itâs going to âswitch the vibe a little bitâ and proceeds to play Aerosmithâs âDream On,â the Beatlesâ âA Day in the Lifeâ, Pink Floydâs âShine On You Crazy Diamond,â and then I lost interest because it obviously doesnât give a shit.

Iâve heard people claim that an AI can compose music. But how can that be when it canât even grasp basic concepts in music?

Of course, the Spotify DJ is still in beta, and Iâm sure that these problems could be fixed by making the DJ a little âsmarterâ about all types of music, but Iâm afraid that Iâm skeptical. Letâs be realistic about this:

There is nothing less consequential to corporate profits than the preservation of the western musical tradition.