Episode 115
I listened to 200 NotebookLM podcasts so you don't have to
Have you ever wondered what it's like to listen to 200 AI-generated podcasts?
“No. That’s ridiculous. Why would anyone do that?” I hear you say.
I’m flaky on the “why” myself, but the thing is, I did it and those are hours of my life I will never get back.
I listened to 200 fake podcasts generated with NotebookLM to see for myself whether the podcasting industry is about to come crumbling down.
Although I went slightly insane throughout this experience, I feel it was well worth it. I definitely never want to hear the phrase “deep dive” again, but other than that I’ve ventured out of this mess mostly unscathed.
00:00 Introduction: Overwhelmed by AI Podcasts
00:32 The Rise of AI-Generated Podcasts
02:32 Deep Dive into AI Podcast Content
03:23 The Banter and Repetition Problem
04:49 Lack of Authenticity in AI Hosts
07:55 Potential and Future of AI Podcasts
10:13 Conclusion: Final Thoughts on AI Podcasts
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Transcript
I just listened to so many AI generated
Speaker:podcasts that I want to crawl into a
Speaker:hole and not return for a very long time.
Speaker:But I did it for you.
Speaker:I did it for you.
Speaker:Well, also me.
Speaker:And I want to go through some
Speaker:things that I've learned after
Speaker:listening to so many podcasts.
Speaker:Let's chat about that.
Speaker:let's go back to the beginning.
Speaker:So I did a video in a podcast
Speaker:episode where I tried NotebookLM
Speaker:for the first time and got really
Speaker:giddy and excited about the fact
Speaker:that these two fake people were
Speaker:talking about something that I wrote.
Speaker:And it was really cute and fun and silly
Speaker:to then listen to them bantering about
Speaker:some real things that I knew about.
Speaker:I thought it was a pretty cool tool.
Speaker:I still think it's a pretty cool tool,
Speaker:but things are getting out of hand.
Speaker:If we then have a look at notebook lm
Speaker:and the amount of actual fake AI podcast.
Speaker:There are now on the podcast
Speaker:platforms for you to listen to.
Speaker:It's 1, 466 at time of recording.
Speaker:That's how many fake podcasts there
Speaker:are out there using Notebook LM.
Speaker:Why do I know that?
Speaker:Because ListenNotes
Speaker:Did something about it.
Speaker:They created this detector that you
Speaker:could actually then use to find out
Speaker:whether a podcast was AI generated.
Speaker:They reached out to Google
Speaker:Notebook LM and they said, Hey
Speaker:dudes, this is pretty bollocks.
Speaker:Could you please make it easy for
Speaker:us to be able to detect AI podcasts
Speaker:so that they're not being flooded
Speaker:on the ListenNotes platform?
Speaker:And essentially Google was like, mm, soz.
Speaker:Not doing anything about that.
Speaker:And I mean, I love Google, Google.
Speaker:I have Google up the wazoo as far as
Speaker:how I run my business, but they're
Speaker:not going to spend the time and
Speaker:energy on that at this point in time.
Speaker:So 1, 466 fake podcasts
Speaker:is a pretty big deal.
Speaker:And I listened to a huge amount of them
Speaker:so that I could understand firstly,
Speaker:whether any of them were any good,
Speaker:whether I should be worried as a podcast
Speaker:producer, an editor and podcast creator,
Speaker:whether there is use in the tool.
Speaker:And so I'm going to tell you a
Speaker:little bit about what I found
Speaker:after listening to so many of them.
Speaker:First thing I found, I hate Deep dive.
Speaker:I hate the words deep dive.
Speaker:I've heard deep dive so many
Speaker:times now because every single
Speaker:one of these notebook LM podcasts
Speaker:that I've listened to, they are
Speaker:just deep diving up the wazoo.
Speaker:Hey, get ready for a new deep dive.
Speaker:Are you ready for this deep dive?
Speaker:Oh, I've got a dive for you.
Speaker:Get ready to deep dive
Speaker:into the deep dive pool.
Speaker:I just, oh my god, I hate it.
Speaker:They just need some other words.
Speaker:There needs to be other
Speaker:words that aren't deep dive.
Speaker:Some of the podcast names are,
Speaker:in fact, deep dive as well.
Speaker:Anyway, so I hate it.
Speaker:The words they're using
Speaker:are not that interesting.
Speaker:They have a certain number of words that
Speaker:they've, I guess, been trained on and
Speaker:that's the ones that they like to use.
Speaker:So yeah, hate that one.
Speaker:There's a lot of banter.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They've obviously worked really hard
Speaker:in creating banter between two hosts,
Speaker:which again, I was really impressed with
Speaker:like, man, they've got interjection.
Speaker:They've got laughter.
Speaker:The banter is pretty flippin good.
Speaker:They say make sense.
Speaker:Hmm.
Speaker:That's interesting.
Speaker:I like that.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Ooh, exactly.
Speaker:I'm intrigued.
Speaker:These, these, all, all of them,
Speaker:all of the podcasts say that,
Speaker:say those things all the times.
Speaker:And you're probably sitting there
Speaker:thinking like, well, look, Brianna, I'm
Speaker:not sitting there listening to 250 or
Speaker:so podcasts that are all AI generated.
Speaker:I might just listen to one so
Speaker:it doesn't bother me so much.
Speaker:And I mean, I guess you have a point.
Speaker:All I'm saying is, is that if there's 1,
Speaker:466 and growing, AI generated podcasts
Speaker:and they're all using the same words and
Speaker:they're all using the same inflection.
Speaker:It's gonna get pretty flooded
Speaker:pretty soon full of content
Speaker:that is just the same delivery.
Speaker:At time of recording as well
Speaker:there is only two hosts, there
Speaker:are only two voices to be heard.
Speaker:You can't choose them, you can't
Speaker:customize, you can't use your own voice.
Speaker:I know Notebook LM is actually
Speaker:working on you being allowed to
Speaker:customize and choose other voices.
Speaker:That's coming and I guess that
Speaker:will make it a little bit better
Speaker:so that it sounds less templated.
Speaker:It sounds less the same as any
Speaker:other AI generated podcast.
Speaker:But, uh, yeah, right now
Speaker:it's just a lot of the same.
Speaker:The other thing I really don't like
Speaker:about them, and this is kind of why
Speaker:I'm not worried about it taking over
Speaker:podcasting and everyone just going,
Speaker:oh, well, I'll just listen to this
Speaker:AI version of the news instead of
Speaker:the real people delivering the news.
Speaker:There is absolutely no
Speaker:relationship between the two hosts.
Speaker:You, you can't really establish
Speaker:that you like either of them.
Speaker:They don't have any actual personalities.
Speaker:They've been given a tone that they
Speaker:need to talk in, but you don't feel
Speaker:like you can get to know them, and
Speaker:they don't have insightful thought.
Speaker:They don't come in with little,
Speaker:like, stories from their real life,
Speaker:because they don't have a real life.
Speaker:They just spout information
Speaker:at you in the same format that
Speaker:they do for any other podcast.
Speaker:So as I was listening to them, I started
Speaker:to go, at what point would I just
Speaker:not listen to this podcast anymore?
Speaker:Maybe I'd listen to a couple of
Speaker:episodes if I felt like the information
Speaker:they were giving was really good and
Speaker:I needed it to be distilled down.
Speaker:But at a certain point, it's just
Speaker:like, what am I listening to you for?
Speaker:Like, it's boring.
Speaker:Like, it's Kind of interesting.
Speaker:They've made it engaging, but it's
Speaker:still boring because at the heart of
Speaker:podcasting, there is still storytelling
Speaker:and they're not really telling stories
Speaker:about anything that is actually
Speaker:real, like from their own lives.
Speaker:That was my first point where I was
Speaker:like, yeah, this is not something
Speaker:I'm actually worried about.
Speaker:Not at this point in time, because at
Speaker:the heart of it, the medium Exists for
Speaker:people to feel connected to other people.
Speaker:Not every genre, you know, some of them
Speaker:are a lot more Just give me the facts
Speaker:but the bulk of people come to podcast
Speaker:to learn something and Connect with
Speaker:the hosts or with other people in the
Speaker:community that are also listening to it
Speaker:and there's got to be an element that
Speaker:like Is bringing everything together.
Speaker:And that's normally the
Speaker:person that is delivering the
Speaker:information like me right now.
Speaker:I hope you're connecting with me
Speaker:because I am a person that's got
Speaker:real emotions and feelings and, you
Speaker:know, I can express myself in my
Speaker:own stories and my own thoughts.
Speaker:So AI, no big L M, it does not do that
Speaker:because it can't, it can't do that.
Speaker:In fact, I found it kind of funny.
Speaker:There was quite a few instances
Speaker:where they would go like, everyone's
Speaker:craving a bit of authenticity.
Speaker:And I'm like, the, you are an
Speaker:AI, you're not authentic at all.
Speaker:You're a robot.
Speaker:And that was kind of funny.
Speaker:And then they'd say things like, ah,
Speaker:yes, the classic workplace conundrum.
Speaker:They've never been in a workplace.
Speaker:They've never had this conundrum.
Speaker:They can't relate.
Speaker:There's so many situations and things in
Speaker:these podcast episodes where they chime
Speaker:in like, Oh yeah, I've had that problem.
Speaker:No, you haven't.
Speaker:You haven't had this
Speaker:problem because you're not.
Speaker:Real.
Speaker:You're not a real thing.
Speaker:You can't have had this situation.
Speaker:I don't believe you.
Speaker:And as soon as I don't believe
Speaker:you, I don't trust you.
Speaker:Quite a few of the podcasts were
Speaker:talking about AI and the rise of AI.
Speaker:And I found it funny when the podcast
Speaker:would be like, you should use AI.
Speaker:And that's why AI is a really good idea.
Speaker:And they're also AI.
Speaker:It's like mind control through
Speaker:AI, getting you to use more AI.
Speaker:We use AI every day in our
Speaker:business here at Bambi Media,
Speaker:but you won't see me creating.
Speaker:AI podcasts anytime soon.
Speaker:The other thing that I heard was
Speaker:I've definitely procrastinated
Speaker:a time or two myself.
Speaker:No you didn't!
Speaker:Your whole deal is you don't
Speaker:procrastinate, is that you're super
Speaker:productive because you're a robot.
Speaker:I thought that one was particularly
Speaker:funny because it doesn't make Sense.
Speaker:Ugh.
Speaker:Anyway, you can probably tell I'm a bit
Speaker:batty after listening to so much of this
Speaker:notebook LM content, but I did want to
Speaker:showcase a few that I thought, just,
Speaker:just little things that they said that
Speaker:I was like, what are you even doing?
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:They've obviously been trained
Speaker:to be relatable, but they can't
Speaker:be relatable at their core
Speaker:because you know, they're robots.
Speaker:What I would like to see is the AI.
Speaker:Owning that their AI.
Speaker:I don't know how you could work that
Speaker:into the model instead of being like,
Speaker:ah, yes I've had that problem or mmm.
Speaker:Yeah flippin workplaces, huh?
Speaker:They suck I know I've been in so many
Speaker:of them like instead of doing that
Speaker:It would be really good if they were
Speaker:like, well, yeah I mean, I can't relate
Speaker:because I'm a robot and I don't exist.
Speaker:It would be funnier if And I
Speaker:think I would listen to more of
Speaker:it if they just owned up to the
Speaker:fact that they weren't real.
Speaker:That would make for an
Speaker:interesting podcast.
Speaker:I think I would actually enjoy listening
Speaker:to something like that, where they're
Speaker:kind of making fun of the fact that
Speaker:they are also AI and they can't really.
Speaker:Give you any relatable content because
Speaker:they can't relate to basically anything
Speaker:other than zeros and ones I don't know
Speaker:whether that's how you actually create
Speaker:AI models using zeros and ones Probably
Speaker:not but you know, you get my gist.
Speaker:Okay, I'm thinking of
Speaker:Bender from Futurama.
Speaker:That's as far as my knowledge of
Speaker:robots goes So look, that's all
Speaker:I really wanted to discuss today.
Speaker:I just wanted to kind of shed some
Speaker:light on the actual amount, like
Speaker:the sheer volume of fake podcasts
Speaker:that are now entering the market
Speaker:because of Google's Notebook LM.
Speaker:I'm not mad about it.
Speaker:I understand that there's going
Speaker:to be new tools all the time.
Speaker:They're going to be widely adopted.
Speaker:Whether this becomes a flop or
Speaker:not, Remains to be seen, but as far
Speaker:as what I've listened to from the
Speaker:sheer amount that I've gone through,
Speaker:they're not relatable, they're not
Speaker:funny, they're not interesting.
Speaker:A lot of these podcasts, in fact, most
Speaker:of them, I would say 99 percent of them,
Speaker:don't have any theme music, don't have
Speaker:any significant branding, don't have any
Speaker:way for you to be remembering them later.
Speaker:They just feel like a bunch of bots.
Speaker:I would love to know if you listen to
Speaker:an AI podcast, why do you listen to it?
Speaker:Is it good?
Speaker:And can you send me a link to it?
Speaker:Because I would love to listen to it.
Speaker:Bye!
Speaker:Put it in the comments and let
Speaker:me know why you think it's good.
Speaker:At this point in time,
Speaker:I can see it disrupting.
Speaker:I can see something cool coming out
Speaker:of this experiment, but a bunch of AI
Speaker:fake podcasts is not something that
Speaker:I think is going to be continuing.
Speaker:A lot of these, in fact, had a very
Speaker:small amount of episodes, three,
Speaker:five, eight episodes, and they haven't
Speaker:released in over a month and people
Speaker:were just trying it out and then.
Speaker:It's just finished.
Speaker:Again, not something I'm
Speaker:super concerned with.
Speaker:I don't love it.
Speaker:I thought it'd be fun to have
Speaker:a listen to them and give
Speaker:my honest feedback on these.
Speaker:And the day that an AI owns up to
Speaker:the fact that it's AI and gives me
Speaker:a podcast that is funny because it's
Speaker:AI, that will be worth listening to.
