Episode 102
Are voiceless podcasts the way of the future?
If you’ve ever spent time on YouTube, you’ve probably come across “faceless” channels.
Some even employ AI voices, allowing them to focus purely on content creation without involving their personal identities. This style of creation is becoming increasingly popular for video because it involves far less work. You don’t need a video camera, lighting or recording space. I can see the appeal to some creators.
It made me wonder: could podcasts follow a similar trend and become entirely voiceless? Let’s be clear here as to what “voiceless” means in this context. There is still technically a voice, but it’s not your human voice.
With the increasing popularity of cloning voices using AI, are we on the precipice of stepping into a world where synthetic voices are the norm?
Imagine using AI to replace your voice altogether. No more recording sessions, just write a script, or you could go even further and have AI write your script for you. Then let an AI-generated voice say it all and bam, you’ve got yourself a “podcast”.
To some, this might seem like a utopian shortcut—minimal effort for maximum output. To me, it initially felt very wrong and entirely impersonal. But, in the spirit of experimentation, I decided to give it a go and share my findings with you.
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Transcript
Are voiceless podcasts
Speaker:the way of the future?
Speaker:That is the question for us today
Speaker:that I'm going to explore with you.
Speaker:If you know YouTube well, then
Speaker:you may know that there are a huge
Speaker:amount of channels on YouTube that
Speaker:are actually just faceless channels.
Speaker:So you are never on screen, you are off
Speaker:screen, or maybe they even use AI voices.
Speaker:A lot of them do these days, or
Speaker:at least they're trialing them
Speaker:to just not be involved kind
Speaker:of really at all other than.
Speaker:You know, producing the video, putting
Speaker:it together, but there's no face
Speaker:associated with the actual channel.
Speaker:I was wondering whether there
Speaker:is some way in the future that
Speaker:podcasts may become voiceless.
Speaker:It's a sign, kind of a
Speaker:stupid question, right?
Speaker:You're like, what the hell?
Speaker:How can you have a podcast with no voice?
Speaker:I mean, what, come on.
Speaker:what I'm talking about here is
Speaker:actually, can you use AI to Get rid
Speaker:of your voice completely, as in, you
Speaker:don't sit there with a microphone,
Speaker:you just write a script, or you use
Speaker:AI to write your script, and then you
Speaker:use AI to say that script, and you
Speaker:train the AI to speak in your voice.
Speaker:This is not something
Speaker:that I want you to do.
Speaker:I don't think it's a good idea at
Speaker:all, but I thought it would be a fun
Speaker:experiment for us and for you to kind
Speaker:of listen here into what I did here.
Speaker:, to see what you think.
Speaker:And I'd love your feedback.
Speaker:Please let me know via Instagram DMS,
Speaker:or, uh, you can actually just email
Speaker:me if you want hello at Bambi media.
Speaker:com.
Speaker:If you, after you listened to this, have
Speaker:some feedback, whether you liked it or
Speaker:not, whether you feel like you could
Speaker:listen to a whole podcast episode, that
Speaker:is an AI voice, I mean, the thing that's
Speaker:kind of scary about it is that It's just
Speaker:going to get better and better, right?
Speaker:It's not going to get worse.
Speaker:That's the whole thing.
Speaker:and so how it is now is just
Speaker:like, it's like an infant.
Speaker:And at some point in the future,
Speaker:which I can't even comprehend, it's
Speaker:probably going to be so good that
Speaker:you may not notice the difference.
Speaker:That baffles me.
Speaker:That's bonkers.
Speaker:My brain can't understand that.
Speaker:My brain refuses to like admit
Speaker:that, but maybe it's a thing.
Speaker:So as a fun little experiment
Speaker:today, what I did was I used a tool.
Speaker:That we use in our business all
Speaker:the time and I think that it's
Speaker:certainly a tool that is extremely
Speaker:helpful in a lot of use cases.
Speaker:But for this case, let's have a
Speaker:listen to whether it is any good.
Speaker:Now, let me just set you the
Speaker:scene as to how we did it.
Speaker:So what I did is, and you can watch
Speaker:this on YouTube if you want, you
Speaker:want to see like the whole process.
Speaker:But what I essentially did was I trained.
Speaker:AI voice tool to be able to capture
Speaker:my voice, which again feels a
Speaker:little bit scary and weird because
Speaker:then my voice is out there that
Speaker:people could kind of use it.
Speaker:That's a whole other issue that
Speaker:I certainly have, but I really
Speaker:wanted to do this as an experiment.
Speaker:So I just threw myself under the bus.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:Anyway.
Speaker:So I trained it on my voice,
Speaker:which didn't take long at all.
Speaker:It was like, I don't know, 20 seconds.
Speaker:And then I went a step further.
Speaker:Once it had my voice, I went a step
Speaker:further and I thought, well, maybe I
Speaker:can not even write the script myself.
Speaker:Maybe I can just get AI
Speaker:to write the script on the
Speaker:topic that I wanted it to do.
Speaker:This is like the laziest of
Speaker:lazy that I wouldn't, let me
Speaker:just, I would never do this.
Speaker:This is not my MO at all,
Speaker:but it's a fun experiment.
Speaker:So I asked the AI to write me a script
Speaker:that was about launching a podcast.
Speaker:I gave it a few kinds of metrics
Speaker:and parameters to work within the
Speaker:kind of tone I wanted it to use.
Speaker:And then it wrote the script, which took
Speaker:like, 20 seconds, not a very good script,
Speaker:by the way, but you know, whatever.
Speaker:And then I went and I said, okay, cool,
Speaker:now use my AI voice to say this script.
Speaker:So if you backtrack there,
Speaker:okay, I have done nothing.
Speaker:All I've done is tell
Speaker:the AI, this is my voice.
Speaker:It's trained it.
Speaker:Now it knows my voice.
Speaker:Again, that's scary.
Speaker:it's written the script.
Speaker:I haven't even checked it
Speaker:And then I just said, okay,
Speaker:make my AI voice say it.
Speaker:So I've done nothing.
Speaker:My input is like 30
Speaker:seconds of actual work.
Speaker:Oh, and so now I'm going
Speaker:to play you the results.
Speaker:Now, if you want my real time response
Speaker:feedback to this, then again, I would
Speaker:say, probably go to YouTube you can see
Speaker:my response there and it's kind of funny.
Speaker:so the YouTube video was me
Speaker:basically reacting real time.
Speaker:I'd never done this before.
Speaker:And then just to, just to have it went.
Speaker:So now what I'm going to do
Speaker:is I'm going to list, get you
Speaker:to listen to some of this.
Speaker:And I want you to see, like,
Speaker:close your eyes for a minute.
Speaker:See if I could get away with it.
Speaker:Could I get away with it?
Speaker:Let's wait and see.
Speaker:Hey there podcast enthusiasts!
Speaker:Welcome to our very first
Speaker:episode where we'll dive into the
Speaker:wonderful world of podcasting.
Speaker:If you're here, that means you're
Speaker:eager to start your very own
Speaker:podcast, and we couldn't be more
Speaker:excited to help you on this journey.
Speaker:Um, can I just say lol at this point?
Speaker:L O L.
Speaker:And we couldn't be more excited
Speaker:to join you on this journey.
Speaker:Doesn't sound very excited.
Speaker:I don't sound like I'm
Speaker:having a very good time.
Speaker:Okay, let's keep going.
Speaker:First things first, why
Speaker:should you start a podcast?
Speaker:Well, if you're anything like me, you
Speaker:probably love talking, sharing stories,
Speaker:or maybe you have some expertise
Speaker:that the world just NEEDS to hear.
Speaker:Plus, it's a fantastic way to meet
Speaker:interesting people and build a community.
Speaker:Alright, so you've decided
Speaker:to start a podcast.
Speaker:Fantastic!
Speaker:Now comes the fun part
Speaker:– picking your podcast theme.
Speaker:This part is crucial because
Speaker:you want to talk about something
Speaker:you're passionate about.
Speaker:Remember, if you’re bored,
Speaker:your audience will be too.
Speaker:let me just jump in here and say
Speaker:right now to AI Brianna, I'm bored.
Speaker:I'm bored with you talking
Speaker:about being not too boring.
Speaker:So I'm bored.
Speaker:It's a snooze fest so far.
Speaker:I'm Trust me, no one wants
Speaker:to hear you drone on about
Speaker:something you don’t care about.
Speaker:That's actually hilarious.
Speaker:It sounds like A.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Me doesn't care about how
Speaker:to launch a podcast at all.
Speaker:You're being very hypocritical, A.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:Brianna.
Speaker:Now onto the gear.
Speaker:Don't worry; you don't need to
Speaker:break the bank to get started.
Speaker:At the very least, you'll need a decent
Speaker:microphone, headphones, and a computer.
Speaker:There are plenty of
Speaker:budget-friendly options out there.
Speaker:Okay, I think you've heard enough, right?
Speaker:You've definitely heard enough.
Speaker:Let's have a little
Speaker:bit of a recap on this.
Speaker:Let's give my thoughts on this.
Speaker:So I certainly made fun of it
Speaker:a few times throughout that.
Speaker:And look, I really don't think that
Speaker:it is something that is useful.
Speaker:It's like, in this capacity, it seems
Speaker:like what's the point of having a
Speaker:podcast if, you know, you're just
Speaker:not gonna actually do the work?
Speaker:What's the point?
Speaker:It doesn't seem right to me.
Speaker:Like if you're trying to have
Speaker:your thought leadership, if you're
Speaker:trying to be funny, if you're
Speaker:trying to be whatever, it's not
Speaker:something at this stage, look,
Speaker:you know, maybe that will change.
Speaker:Let's come across that
Speaker:when we come across it.
Speaker:But for right now, why would you do this?
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:I want to know.
Speaker:Why would you do it?
Speaker:Would you do it?
Speaker:Like, let me know.
Speaker:Let me know why you would
Speaker:actually do this, because I
Speaker:just don't think it's useful.
Speaker:The only place, and I said this in the
Speaker:YouTube video, the only place that I
Speaker:think it's useful is, like, If you're
Speaker:recording an episode, you've done your
Speaker:recording, and then, uh, you can't get
Speaker:your microphone back out and you've
Speaker:made a mistake, like a fairly decent
Speaker:mistake, and you need a word change,
Speaker:let's say, maybe you said someone's name
Speaker:wrong, maybe you Said, uh, if instead
Speaker:of, of, and there was no other instances
Speaker:of it, you know, like there's, there's
Speaker:going to be little mistakes that you
Speaker:can definitely fix up with an AI voice
Speaker:someone probably wouldn't notice if it's
Speaker:just a small thing, maybe even if not
Speaker:a sentence, you probably couldn't get
Speaker:away with the whole sentence at this
Speaker:point, but certainly like a couple of
Speaker:words, if that saves you time, because
Speaker:you don't have to get all your gear out
Speaker:again and then do it that way, then yeah.
Speaker:That, that, that would be good.
Speaker:I don't have that problem here because
Speaker:everything's always set up at all times.
Speaker:There's no putting things away
Speaker:and getting them back out.
Speaker:We could do it for our clients, if
Speaker:we had a copy of all their AI voices,
Speaker:which I don't know whether they'd even
Speaker:be comfortable with, to be honest.
Speaker:Hey, can we have your voice, please?
Speaker:Then we're just going to make
Speaker:you say whatever we want.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:But you know, we could, potentially.
Speaker:Do that and be like, Hey, instead
Speaker:of you re recording that bit, we can
Speaker:just use your AI voice to, to do that.
Speaker:Yeah, I guess there's
Speaker:probably some boundaries that
Speaker:would need to be set there.
Speaker:There'd probably be, have to be some sort
Speaker:of contract drawn up so that they know
Speaker:that we're, I mean, not, not that we'd
Speaker:take it and do anything with it anyway,
Speaker:but you know, there's going to be legal
Speaker:ramifications that you have to kind of
Speaker:set up for that sort of thing as well.
Speaker:So, uh, for your own self.
Speaker:If it's just you doing it, then yeah,
Speaker:that sounds like a tool that potentially
Speaker:could be something that you could use.
Speaker:But there is no personality.
Speaker:There's nothing.
Speaker:When you listen to that,
Speaker:it doesn't sound like me.
Speaker:I mean, as elements of me, I
Speaker:sound a little bit more American.
Speaker:Sometimes there's a little
Speaker:bit of Irish in there.
Speaker:It did handle the Australian accent
Speaker:better than I thought it did.
Speaker:And I have done earlier versions
Speaker:of AI where it's just been rubbish.
Speaker:So this is better.
Speaker:For sure, which again makes me a little
Speaker:bit like, Oh God, what is coming?
Speaker:You know, cause it's just
Speaker:getting better all the time.
Speaker:but there's no emotion, there's no
Speaker:feeling, there's no pause to reflect.
Speaker:There's, there's no
Speaker:cadence that's any good.
Speaker:And so to me, whole point of
Speaker:a podcast is to connect with
Speaker:the person that's listening.
Speaker:And if they feel like they can't
Speaker:connect because you're a robot,
Speaker:you're a monotone robot, then why
Speaker:would they keep listening to you?
Speaker:Maybe perhaps if all you were doing,
Speaker:if the whole point of your like to
Speaker:recap the news or just to, basically
Speaker:be a voice for current events, I think
Speaker:Then you could maybe do it and someone
Speaker:would listen all the way through.
Speaker:Or if it was, scores for some sport
Speaker:that you're really interested in,
Speaker:that's updated every week for the
Speaker:latest tournaments or whatever,
Speaker:maybe you could do, you know, stuff
Speaker:that's really statistical and is
Speaker:at its core, not very interesting.
Speaker:That might work, but I think most
Speaker:people want to hear a real voice,
Speaker:giving their real thoughts, giving
Speaker:their real emotions and feeling like
Speaker:you're connecting with a person, just
Speaker:like I'm connecting with you right now.
Speaker:I can't see you.
Speaker:I can't hear you, but I
Speaker:feel connected to you.
Speaker:And I hope that you feel the same way
Speaker:with me in your ears, that you're getting
Speaker:a little snapshot into just how I am.
Speaker:So that's my reflection on that.
Speaker:It was a very fun experiment.
Speaker:Maybe I will drop a AI voiced episode
Speaker:into this podcast once, just to keep
Speaker:you on your toes and see how long it
Speaker:takes for someone to contact me and be
Speaker:like, Brianna, you sounded really weird.
Speaker:That week.
Speaker:What's going on?
Speaker:but you know, you'll
Speaker:have to wait and see.
Speaker:I'm just going to drop that
Speaker:without you even knowing.
Speaker:That's it.
Speaker:That's my roundup for this
Speaker:AI are voiceless podcast the
Speaker:way of the future episode.
Speaker:Let me know what you think.
Speaker:What elements did it do well at?
Speaker:What elements did it suck at?
Speaker:Would you listen to a
Speaker:podcast that was like this?
Speaker:Is there a use case for you
Speaker:where you're like, you know what?
Speaker:I would listen to that.
Speaker:are you like, boo, turn it off.
Speaker:I hate it.
Speaker:I would love to know that information.
Speaker:And, uh, yeah, I hope
Speaker:you have a good day.
Speaker:I hope it was good.
Speaker:And I'll talk to you again next time.
