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YouTube Music can now turn your thoughts into a personalized playlist

Of course, AI is at play here. Unsurprisingly, you must have an active YouTube Premium or YouTube Music Premium subscription.

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iPhone 15 Pro Max showing the YouTube Music app.
Bryan M. Wolfe / Digital Trends

Getting work done by simply describing is the hottest new trend. You can prompt an iOS app and publish it to the App Store with Replit. You can have Claude handle work files and make changes without even opening them. And then there are tools like ChatGPT and Gemini that can handle everything from Deep Research to making viral images and videos. The music streaming segment is aboard the AI train, as well.

Google has today announced that you can now simply describe your mood in natural language, and the built-in AI will create a playlist for you. The new AI playlist feature is already rolling out within the YouTube Music app on Android and iOS platforms. All you need to do is tap the “New” button that appears in the bottom-right corner of the Library page.

YouTube Premium and @YouTubeMusic Premium users can now instantly turn an idea, mood or genre into a personalized playlist using our new AI playlist feature 🎧

Here’s how to use it:

1. On Android & iOS, tap the “New” button in the Library tab of YouTube Music
2. Select “AI… pic.twitter.com/YR1GVCqwvu

— Updates From YouTube (@UpdatesFromYT) February 9, 2026

Once there, select the AI playlist option and simply describe your music mood. You can either choose voice or input, and once you’re done with the description, the AI will create a custom playlist within a few seconds. Unsurprisingly, this feature is locked behind a paywall, and you will need a YouTube Premium or YouTubeMusic Premium subscription to access it.

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This won’t be the first attempt of its kind that blends streaming music with AI. Spotify also offers a tool called Prompted Playlist that lets you curate song libraries based on your mood or even building atop your listening history. The app also shows sample prompts created by its music editors and culture experts to get users started.

If the idea sounds appealing to you, ChatGPT also lets you link music streaming (among other services) to get work done. Officially known as ChatGPT Apps, all you need is to connect the accounts and then enter the natural language prompts to create a playlist without even opening the target music streaming app.

Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is the Managing Editor at Digital Trends.
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