Apple Intelligence may soon build your Apple Music playlists for you

Apple Music

• Apple tests AI playlist generator in iOS 26.4 beta
• Users can create playlists using text prompts, moods, or songs
• Feature is in beta and may launch publicly after more testing

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Apple’s first iOS 26.4 beta is starting to reveal more than it initially let on. While the update did not ship with headline-grabbing Apple Intelligence upgrades out of the gate, it does include a new feature that hints at where Apple Music is headed next.

Buried inside the beta is Playlist Playground, a new Apple Intelligence-powered tool that allows users to generate playlists using text prompts, moods, or selected songs. The feature was first spotted as unused code by Macworld, before being confirmed as live by 9to5Mac once Apple Intelligence assets finished downloading in the background.

Playlist Playground appears to work in a similar way to Image Playground, Apple’s AI image-generation tool, but adapted for music discovery. Users can describe the kind of playlist they want in natural language, select from predefined moods, or choose up to ten songs as input. Apple’s system then generates a playlist based on those signals.

Unlike Image Playground, Playlist Playground does not use the same rainbow-style interface, but the underlying interaction model seems familiar. You guide the system with intent rather than manually curating tracks one by one.

Apple Music already offers a wide mix of playlist types, including human-curated collections, algorithmic recommendations, user-created playlists, and collaborative lists. AI-generated playlists could add a new layer, especially for listeners who know what they want to feel, but not necessarily which artists or tracks to pick.

The idea itself isn’t entirely new. Playlist Playground is conceptually similar to Beats Music’s old “The Sentence” feature, which let users create playlists using short descriptive phrases. The difference is scale and flexibility. Beats’ approach relied on more rigid machine learning rules, while Apple Intelligence’s generative system is non-deterministic, meaning results can vary each time.

That variability could make Playlist Playground more useful for discovery, rather than simply reshuffling familiar recommendations.

The feature remains limited to the iOS 26.4 beta, which has only just begun its testing cycle. Apple is expected to roll out multiple betas before a public release sometime in March, and more Apple Intelligence-related additions could still be activated in later builds.