Spotify urged to rule out ‘invasive’ voice recognition tech

The technology that aimed to streamline the process for suggesting songs that fit people’s mood or setting using background noise raised privacy concerns, as devices could take in private information and make inferences about other people in the room who might not be aware that they were being listened to. — AFP

A coalition of musicians and human rights groups urged music streaming company Spotify on May 4 to rule out possible use of a speech recognition tool it recently developed to suggest songs – describing the technology as “creepy” and “invasive”.

In January, Sweden-based Spotify patented a technology that analyses users’ speech and background noise to suggest tracks based on their mood, gender, age, accent or surroundings.