Spotify Launches AI Audiobook Recaps in Beta for Quick Story Catch-Ups

It seems Spotify is embracing AI lately, as it announced a new AI-powered feature called Audiobook Recaps. The company says it’ll help listeners easily jump back into their favorite stories. Do note that the feature is currently in beta, though.

The new Audiobook Recaps feature offers short audio summaries based on the portion of an audiobook you’ve already listened to. Think of it as a “previously on” segment from a TV show. It gives you a quick catch-up before you dive back in.

The feature has been developed in collaboration with Spotify’s publishing partners. Author J.H. Markert, known for Spider to the Fly, described Recaps as “an audio bookmark that speaks,” calling it “a must for any audiobook lover.” So, how does the feature work?

Well, when you return to an audiobook, a “Recap” button appears at the top of the title’s page. Tapping it plays a short, tailored summary of what has happened so far. The first Recap becomes available after 15–20 minutes of listening, and subsequent ones automatically update as you progress through the book.

Spotify confirmed that Audiobook Recaps uses AI to generate summaries. However, the music streaming giant claims that it doesn’t use audiobook content for training large language models or voice replication. The summaries do not replace narration or mimic the original voice.

As mentioned earlier, Audiobook Recaps are in beta, available on iOS for select English-language titles. Spotify says it plans to expand the feature gradually while gathering user feedback to further improve it.