(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
This AI startup wants to replace human hosts with robot voices and ad-filled slop [1]
['Jason Weisberger']
Date: 2025-09-09
A former executive of a podcasting company that relied on human talent has decided to lean into AI, cause paying humans is so yesterday.
"I think that people who are still referring to all AI-generated content as AI slop are probably lazy luddites. Because there's a lot of really good stuff out there," says Inception Point AI CEO Robin Wright. I think that people who ignore the multitudes begging vloggers and podcasters to stop using AI narration are fools. They'll also hit a brick wall when companies like OpenAI stop burning investors' money to provide an underpriced service and have to start charging what it costs: more than it is worth in terms of energy.
The company is able to produce each episode for $1 or less, depending on length and complexity, and attach programmatic advertising to it. This generally means that if about 20 people listen to that episode, the company made a profit on that episode, without factoring in overhead. Inception Point AI already has more than 5,000 shows across its Quiet Please Podcast Network and produces more than 3,000 episodes a week. Collectively, the network has seen 10 million downloads since September 2023. It takes about an hour to create an episode, from coming up with the idea to getting it out in the world. The company produces different levels of podcasts. The lowest level involves weather reports for various geographic areas or simple biographies and higher levels involving subject-area podcasts hosted by one of about 50 AI personalities they've created, including food expert Claire Delish, gardener and nature expert Nigel Thistledown and Oly Bennet, who covers off-beat sports. Hollywood Reporter
Surveys show over 70% of people want human voices, and only 23% trust information from an AI narrator. Seeing as it only takes an hour from inception to publishing, I wonder about the fact checking that goes on as well. That trust number might drop very quickly.
It'd be cool if Wright could point us to some of this "really good stuff."
Previously:
• AI podcast has Joe Rogan 'interview' Steve Jobs
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://boingboing.net/2025/09/09/this-ai-startup-wants-to-replace-human-hosts-with-robot-voices-and-ad-filled-slop.html
Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/
