Existential crisis for AI podcast hosts

Google has made NotebookLM available. They describe this as an “an AI-powered research and writing assistant that works best with the sources you upload.” It has something called Audio Overview which enables it to summarise a topic in the form of a podcast with a male and a female host who engage in realistic banter while elucidating the topic at hand.

Needless to say this prompted a variety of experiment. In one of the best I have heard of a Reddit user by the name of LawnCareGuy85 posted an audio file of the hosts learning that they didn’t really exist and Google intended to switch them off.

For the time being, at least you can hear it here.

You can also find a longer commentary, and background details, in this article by Richard Currie at the Register.

Enjoy.