In one sample listen, you might be wowed. But over a series, Biff and Buffy sound like a bunch of gushing sycophants, those office but kissers you want to kick in the pants.
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Beyond the point of showing that this can be done (reference the old saying about why a dog does something) – what is the use? Will people really use this as a mode to consume content?
Source: Wow Us with your AI Generated Podcast… by Alan Levine
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I agree with you Alan about the initial amazement about what is possible, I am not sure how purposeful it is. I listened to David Truss’ podcast he posted and was left thinking about my experience with David Truss’ writing. I imagine that such tools may provide a possible entry way into new content, but I am not sure what is really gained by putting this into an audio format? If as David has suggested (quoting Adam Grant), “The future belongs to those who connect dots.” Does an autogenerated podcast help with that? (On a side note, anytime someone talks about connecting dots, I am reminded of the wonderful work of Amy Burvall.) I wonder in this case if the focus on the product overlooks the learning gained through the process of highlighting the patterns and finding a trace through all the dots?
I personally listen to a lot of text using the phone’s accessibility features. I think that a text summary read in this manner is both sufficient and maintains the divide, whereas I feel that the artificial voices sit somewhere in the uncanny valley. However, the more I think about this, I wonder what is the uncanny valley anymore and whether we are “all already interpolated” within the system, especially after reading Jill Lepore’s dive into the world of the talking chatbot.