Is The Washington Post’s new AI podcast a hallmark of the future? : NPR

This isn’t your mom’s podcast, or your dad’s, or anyone else’s. The Washington PostThe new offering, “Your Personal Podcast,” uses artificial intelligence to personalize podcasts for its users, blending the algorithm you might find in a news feed with the convenience of portable audio.

The podcast is “automatically personalized based on your reading history” Job items, the newspaper says on its help page. Listeners also have some control: With a single click, they can change the composition of their podcast’s topics – or even swap its computer-generated “hosts.”

The AI ​​podcast immediately made headlines – and drew criticism from people. question its accuracyand the motivations behind it.

Nicholas Quah, critic and editor for Vulture and new York review WHO writes podcast newsletter, says Podcast AI is an example of JobThe large-scale digital experiments of – but that didn’t go very well.

“This is one of many technologically and digitally oriented experiments that they are conducting” and which aims “to attract more audiences and penetrate new demographics,” he says. These broader efforts range from generative AI tool for readers to one digital publishing platform. But in this case, Quah adds, “it feels like it undermines the central idea of ​​what the information product is.”

On this help page, the newspaper emphasizes that the podcast is in its first beta phase and “is not a traditional editorial podcast.”

Bailey Kattleman, head of product and design at Jobcalls it “an AI-powered audio briefing experience” – and one that will soon allow listeners to respond.

“In a future version, they’ll actually be able to interact and ask follow-up questions to dig deeper into what they just heard,” Kattleman said in an interview with NPR.

As technically sophisticated as it may seem, there are lots of questions on the accuracy of the new podcast – even on its ability to correctly pronounce the names of Job journalists he cites. Semafor reported that errors, cited by the staff of the Job, included “misattributing or inventing quotes and inserting comments, such as interpreting quotes from a source” as the journal’s own position.

In the newspaper’s app, a note advises listeners to “verify information” by comparing the podcast to its source.

In a statement, the Washington Post Guild — which represents newsroom workers and other staff — told NPR, “We are concerned about this new product and its rollout,” alleging that it undermines the Jobthe mission and work of its journalists.

Citing the journal’s standard practice of issuing a correction if a paper contains an error, the guild added: “Why would we support technology that is held to different and lower standards?” »

So why Job deploy an AI podcast? And will other media and audio outlets follow suit?

Here are some questions and answers:

Isn’t AI podcasting already a reality?

“THE Job “Certainly came out here among the old American publishers,” Andrew Deck told NPR. But he adds that the newspaper is not the first to experiment with AI-generated podcasts in the broader news industry.

Deck, who writes about journalism and AI for Harvard University’s Nieman Lab, cites examples such as BBC My Club Dailyan AI-generated football podcast that allows users to hear content related to their favorite club. In 2023, he adds, “a Swiss public channel used voice clones of real radio hosts on the air.”

Media outlets have also long offered an automated feature that converts text articles into computer-generated voices.

Even outside of the news industry, AI tools for creating podcasts and other audio content are more accessible than ever. Some promise to streamline the editing process, while others can synthesize documents or websites into what resembles a podcast conversation.

Why do publishers want to experiment with AI podcasts?

“It’s profitable,” says Gabriel Soto, senior director of research at Edison Research, which tracks the podcast industry. “You’re removing a lot of resources and people that go into producing a podcast (studios, writers, editors, and the host himself).”

And if a brand can create a successful AI virtual podcast in today’s highly competitive podcasting market, Soto adds, it could become valuable intellectual property in the future.

Deck says if the JobIf the experiment works, the newspaper “might be able to significantly increase and expand its audio journalism offerings, without investing in the workforce that would normally be required to expand.”

In an interview, Kattleman emphasizes that the new product is not intended to replace traditional podcasts: “We think they have a unique and enduring role, and that’s not going to go away at the Post.”

What is unique about the Job AI podcast?

For Deck, the level of customization it promises is an innovation. Being able to tailor a specific podcast to a person, he says, “is arguably beyond what a podcast team in journalism can currently produce manually.”

In an example the Job publishedlisteners can choose from voice options with names like “Charlie and Lucy” and “Bert and Ernie.”

Kattleman says his team started from the idea that for an audience, there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to AI and journalism.

“Some people want a very direct style of briefing; others prefer something more conversational and vocal,” she says.

Quah says adding an AI podcast is an attempt to make the stories accessible to a wider audience.

He says that with the podcast, the Job seems to be trying to reach young people who “don’t want to read anymore, they just want to listen to the news”.

According to Kattleman, one of the main goals is to make podcasts more flexible, in order to attract younger listeners on the go.

Describe the process behind the JobIn Kattleman’s AI podcast, “It’s all based on Washington Post journalism.”

An LLM, or large language model, converts a story into a short audio script, she says. A second LLM then checks the script for accuracy. Once the final script is assembled, Kattleman adds, the voice narrates the episode.

Will listeners embrace an AI news podcast?

Edison Research’s Soto says one in five podcast consumers say they’ve listened to an AI-narrated podcast.

But he adds that for podcast listeners“Many prefer the human connection, accepting AI tools to help create the content, but not run or host the podcast.”

The new AI podcast reminds Deck a bit of the hyper-personalized choices offered to users by TikTok and other social media.

“There is a certain level of familiarity
and, arguably, comfort with algorithmic curation among a younger audience,” he says.

But while younger audiences tend to be tech-savvy, many of them also care about authenticity and connection.

“Community is at the heart of why people listen to podcasts,” says Soto.

Then there’s the idea of ​​a host or creator’s personality, which drives engagement on TikTok and other platforms.

“These creators have built a relationship with their audience – and maybe even trust – even if they haven’t spoken to their sources themselves,” says Deck. “This type of news content is a far cry from the disembodied banter of AI podcast hosts.”

What are the potential downsides of AI podcasts?

One of the major potential consequences is the loss of jobs – and for businesses, the loss of talent.

“Automation is kind of erasing the whole vocal performance industry,” says Quah. “There are people who do this for a living,” he adds, and who could “produce better quality versions of these recordings.”

Some also worry that if AI chooses a story and controls how it is presented, it could create an echo chamber, omitting the context or skepticism that a journalist would be likely to express.

“AI-based information personalization tends to fall squarely in the camp of providing the public with what they want to know,” says Deck.

Deck says he’s ready to give the JobWe have some time to see how this plays out. But Deck has one major concern: “I can say bluntly that generative AI models are mind-blowing.”

And when AI models are wrong, he says, it’s often with confidence.

Blurring the lines between human and AI voices could also raise questions of trust – a critical factor for a news organization.

As Soto puts it: “What happens when your audience expects content from the real you and ends up finding AI instead? »