Spotify (un)wrapped: Unpacking recommender algorithms

3 years ago by small44 to c/technology

What if Spotify built-in explanations about why the algorithm thinks we'd like the stuff it recommends?

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iiGxC 49 points 3 years ago

I wish they had a true shuffle 😔

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pl_woah 7 points 3 years ago

Humans think real random isn't random 🙃

It's wild but they see patterns

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pup_atlas 24 points 3 years ago

The problem isn’t that their random is biased or has rules, the is that it is entirely deterministic, to the point where it will play the same exact songs, in the same exact order for days. It’s as if shuffle just activates a hidden “shuffle” playlist that only updates once a week.

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sukhmel 1 point 3 years ago

I'd guess that every time user presses "shuffle" they just shuffle the playlist and never change the order afterwards. So song order is really not random it's shuffled

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pl_woah -1 points 3 years ago

You and I might be talking about different things.

I mean that humans don't like theoretically true random, as a cool side note

You seem upset about one implementation

Also, shuffling and having something appear near even though you throught it was shuffled is part of that finding patterns

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UndercoverUlrikHD 2 points 3 years ago

Randomness is lumpy as one mathematician put it.

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