Mum, Are Podcasts Created By Humans Better Than AI-Generated Podcasts?
I went to a debate about AI and now I have questions.
I know I’ve already shared my highlights about The Podcast Show, but we’re about to experience a heatwave here in the UK and there’s no way I’m going to look at a laptop for the next 48 hours.
So, I thought I’d share with you a bonus edition about two AI-related sessions I went to. Both of these sessions involved Jeanine Wright, CEO and Co-Founder of Inception Point AI which over the last three years has uploaded more than 15,000 AI-generated podcasts and now has over a million listeners every month. These are all voiced by synthetic characters and pretty much cover any topic you can think of. Go on, I dare you.
How about bald eagles?
Or maybe pasta?
You listened right? And you’d be forgiven for thinking that all of this was harmless, inconsequential podslop. And the ironic thing is, Jeanine would probably agree with you.
You see, Jeanine knows that we are quickly approaching a moment when AI-generated content is going to rapidly outscale human content. She also knows that while a large volume of Inception Point AI’s podcasts are, as she admitted, ‘terrible’ she is relying on three core principles:
The quality of AI-generated content is only going to increase over time
People will become more comfortable with AI-generated content over time.
The output of the product is ultimately more important than the input.
I think, if pushed, Inception Point AI might argue that people might say they have aversions to consuming AI-generated content but, at the end of the day, they are always going to choose a product that is the most reliable, relatable and cost-effective. Trusting a product is really about recognising great service.
Jeanine described the podcast market as inherently ‘broken’ because it relied too much on delivering big ‘hits’. The scale required to produce a hit necessitated high production values and expensive distribution plans which greatly pushed up the barrier to entry. AI should be viewed as a helpful disruptor in the podcast space, giving listeners the opportunity to hear a vast amount of information that is currently locked away in text.
Sensing a restless crowd, Nicky Birch, Innovation Lead, BBC Gen AI Programme, tried to soothe things by crediting Jeanine for being brave enough to join the debate on stage and suggested that perhaps they needed to think of a different category for AI-generated audio - perhaps not ‘podcasts’. This wasn’t really a consideration for Jeanine who proceeded to point out that we shouldn’t treat audiences like children. They could make their own decision about what they wanted to enjoy.
All in all, this was a fascinating debate orchestrated by Katie Prescott, co-host of The Times Tech podcast. I think what the panel lacked was representation from one of the podcast platforms. Inception Point AI is only responding to current market conditions and that means we’re all going to have to plough through lots more podcasts about pasta before we get to the good stuff.
Soz.
PS.James Cridland also wrote about the session here and has been covering Inception Point AI far longer than a whipper-substacker like me.