FINDING AN AUDIENCE
Martin Spinelli, a podcast professor at Britain’s University of Sussex, decried a flood of content that will make it “harder for independent podcasters to get noticed and to develop a following” without the promotional budgets on the scale of Google or Apple.
The expected surge in programming will also cut into the advertising revenue of non-AI podcasts.
“If someone can make 17 cents per episode, and then suddenly they make 100,000 episodes, that 17 cents is going to add up,” warned Nate DiMeo, creator of “The Memory Palace”, a pioneering podcast for history buffs.
The industry veteran, whose program began in 2008, said he is skeptical about the mass adoption of AI podcasts.
But even if listener tastes do not change significantly, a glut of AI podcasts can “still impact the art form”, independent podcasting where most programmes are barely managing to stay afloat.
Currently, the three major platforms – Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube – do not require creators to disclose when a podcast was created by AI.
“I would pay money for an AI tool that helps me cut through that noise,” said Spinelli, who finds the streaming giants ineffective at connecting niche content with its target audience.
Wright argues it is pointless to draw a dividing line between AI and non-AI content because “everything will be made with AI”, to one degree or another.
She does believe, however, that AI-generated podcasts with synthetic voices will emerge as a distinct genre – somewhat like live-action films and animation, which have proven their storytelling potential and appeal over time.
“People dismissing all AI-generated content as slop right now are being thoughtless, because there’s a lot of great, compelling AI content that deserves their interest.”
DiMeo does not see it that way.
He compares podcasting to reading a novel or listening to a song.
You simply want to connect “with some other human consciousness”, he said. “Without that, I find there’s less reason to listen.”
