Gustav Söderström

And usually when these macro winds come, we have a saying internally that you can have the macro wind blow in your face. It's not going to change its direction. So you basically need to reposition yourself so you get the wind at your back and can surf this macro wind, or some people call it the macro wave that you surf. So we've been through a few of these.

And usually when these macro winds come, we have a saying internally that you can have the macro wind blow in your face. It's not going to change its direction. So you basically need to reposition yourself so you get the wind at your back and can surf this macro wind, or some people call it the macro wave that you surf. So we've been through a few of these.

The first one was really the smartphone when that came along. Spotify was really well positioned for the internet before the smartphone. where we had a free-to-own desktop, and that's where we acquired users, and they built a playlist, and they retained themselves. And then mobility, to listen on the go, was a paid feature on Spotify.

The first one was really the smartphone when that came along. Spotify was really well positioned for the internet before the smartphone. where we had a free-to-own desktop, and that's where we acquired users, and they built a playlist, and they retained themselves. And then mobility, to listen on the go, was a paid feature on Spotify.

And that was fine when the majority was computers and the minority was smartphones. And then when smartphones took off, we faced an existential crisis where there started to be consumers who didn't have a desktop. They only had a phone, so they had no free experience, and our entire model died.

And that was fine when the majority was computers and the minority was smartphones. And then when smartphones took off, we faced an existential crisis where there started to be consumers who didn't have a desktop. They only had a phone, so they had no free experience, and our entire model died.

So that was one of those moments we had to reposition the entire business model, actually, and figure out how do we do a free tier on mobile that doesn't cannibalize the paid feature, which was mobility. And we can talk about how we figured that out later. But that was one of those examples. And I think this is a similar one.

So that was one of those moments we had to reposition the entire business model, actually, and figure out how do we do a free tier on mobile that doesn't cannibalize the paid feature, which was mobility. And we can talk about how we figured that out later. But that was one of those examples. And I think this is a similar one.

The big question to me is, does this require a business model change, where is it, quote unquote, just a product change? The other thing that is different, I think, about AI is that it's not going to touch one thing. It touches the consumer product, but it also touches your productivity and competitiveness as a company. So there are lots of different angles to start. But

The big question to me is, does this require a business model change, where is it, quote unquote, just a product change? The other thing that is different, I think, about AI is that it's not going to touch one thing. It touches the consumer product, but it also touches your productivity and competitiveness as a company. So there are lots of different angles to start. But

As you said, we were quite early with machine learning. The journey we had was we saw users coming on Spotify and then they started playlisting and that retained themselves. But it was only a certain amount of people who were good at playlisting because you have to know the catalog in your head, the new releases, the back catalog. So some people retain themselves really well.

As you said, we were quite early with machine learning. The journey we had was we saw users coming on Spotify and then they started playlisting and that retained themselves. But it was only a certain amount of people who were good at playlisting because you have to know the catalog in your head, the new releases, the back catalog. So some people retain themselves really well.

And then we tried to scale that behavior by having editors who created playlists for people who couldn't play this that well. And we saw people using social to find inspiration. Eventually, machine learning started happening, and we saw this opportunity of building a music friend for everyone. So that's where we started. We started investing in that and got quite good at that.

And then we tried to scale that behavior by having editors who created playlists for people who couldn't play this that well. And we saw people using social to find inspiration. Eventually, machine learning started happening, and we saw this opportunity of building a music friend for everyone. So that's where we started. We started investing in that and got quite good at that.

I think some people say that AI is just machine learning. It's just a new word. And it's an interesting question. What is the difference? I think the difference between what people used to call machine learning and what we call generative AI is that the statistical machine learning is an output mechanism. And I think the epitome of that age is the full screen TikTok feed.

I think some people say that AI is just machine learning. It's just a new word. And it's an interesting question. What is the difference? I think the difference between what people used to call machine learning and what we call generative AI is that the statistical machine learning is an output mechanism. And I think the epitome of that age is the full screen TikTok feed.

UIs shape themselves after technology that powers them to maximize metrics. And I think that is the UI that maximizes the statistical explore-exploit paradigm of old school machine learning. What happens with generative AI, I think the big shift is that you can take natural language input. And so even if technically they're both machine learning, I think of generative AI as the new age.

UIs shape themselves after technology that powers them to maximize metrics. And I think that is the UI that maximizes the statistical explore-exploit paradigm of old school machine learning. What happens with generative AI, I think the big shift is that you can take natural language input. And so even if technically they're both machine learning, I think of generative AI as the new age.

And the big shift is that it's two-way. If you think about Spotify, for example, as a consumer product, the way it looks, it's almost like old school broadband. The broadband where you have maybe one megabit downlink, but only 150 kilobit uplink. So a lot of bandwidth down, but not a lot of feedback. This is what most consumer services look like.

And the big shift is that it's two-way. If you think about Spotify, for example, as a consumer product, the way it looks, it's almost like old school broadband. The broadband where you have maybe one megabit downlink, but only 150 kilobit uplink. So a lot of bandwidth down, but not a lot of feedback. This is what most consumer services look like.