Oh no, I turned everything into an AI podcast

is an audio and video creator at The Verge since 2015. He has produced shows like The Vergecast, Decoder with Nilay Patel, Why’d You Push That Button, and a variety of Verge video. Ever since Google introduced the “Audio Overviews” feature into its NotebookLM research tool, I have been experimenting with feeding it bodies of text that I did not want to sit and read: stereo instructions, Wikipedia rabbit holes, my Q1 performance review, etc. With this AI tool, two uncanny valley robot voices are generated to “dive deep” into any documents I upload — adding metaphors, puns, and even casual banter to a summarized conversation. Click play, and what you’ll hear sounds a lot like a stereotypical podcast. After a few Audio Overviews into my week, I realized I was taking significant time away from listening to podcasts made by real people. And as a podcast producer, this was both alarming and fascinating. I hate to admit how impressive Audio Overviews is. It organizes topics in segments th ... Read full article.