Spotify’s new audiobooks feature could your biggest reading upgrade of 2026 (www.techradar.com)

Spotify is testing an AI-powered “Recap” feature for audiobooks in a limited iOS beta that generates short, TV-style “previously on…” summaries of everything you’ve listened to so far. Users tap a Recap button on an audiobook page and get a summary that only covers up to their current listening point (available once you’re ~15–20 minutes in and updated as you progress), so it’s designed to avoid spoilers and let listeners quickly reengage with a story without relistening. For the AI/ML community this is a practical deployment of on-demand summarization and user-state-aware generation tied to commercial content. Spotify says the system doesn’t replace narration or use audiobook text for model training, and it was developed with publishing partners — points that matter for data governance and rights. The beta will surface real-world challenges (e.g., hallucinations, alignment with publisher expectations) and user feedback will shape evaluation metrics and guardrails. Beyond audiobooks, the approach hints at broader product opportunities for e‑readers and companion apps that provide contextual recaps and Q&A over partially consumed long-form content.