Can you use an AI voice generator to create an entire podcast episode?

In today's episode, with all of the excitement around artificial intelligence, many podcasters are asking, can you use an AI voice generator to create a podcast episode? And I wanted to put that question to the test. The thing that originally got me thinking about this question was I run this hack night and a local college student showed me how he had synthesized my voice using only 30 seconds from YouTube and was able to combine with GPT, generate AI audio content that sounds exactly like me.

Welcome to this episode of Extreme Rollerblading, where we explore the wild and exciting world of rollerblading. Today we're taking a look at the rollerblade scene in Stony Plain, Alberta. It's a small town in Alberta and it's known for having some of the best rollerblading and skateboarding in the province. But what makes Stony Plain so unique is the fact that rollerbladers and skateboarders have a very unique relationship.

All right, so that, to me, is very good. I mean, it's only a 38 second clip, but it's incredible to me how the AI was able to synthesize not only my voice, but my cadence, my pauses, my tone. It, it has kind of everything in there. And. I don't know if a whole episode that sounds like that would be entertaining. That's the question du jour. Can you generate a whole episode that is compelling enough? But that output is just remarkable in terms of it being so close to my voice.

And he's always pushing the envelope in innovation. Like, for example, with his next computer, he developed a new programming language and operating system, and then he became even more famous for making three applications for that computer.

I'll skip ahead here.

Even though Apple is big, it's still, like, half a percent of the total users. People who listen to your show are a different group. They're weird. Ha ha ha.

Well, that's good.

The, the laughing there is the, is part of the tell. It just sounds so unnatural. And here's one where Zach Galifianakis talks movies with Quentin Tarantino.

I heard you're a big fan of all things pop culture. Is that true or is that false?

Yeah, I love movies, music, and all that good stuff.

Well, in that case, if you were to choose one movie to watch for the rest of your entire life, what would it be?

Well, I guess it would have to be something with a little twist to it, you know, like a burger with a little something extra.

Okay moving right along...

So it's you know, it's kind of stilted it's not exactly you the the voice Synthesis is pretty good and it's a great demo of how far this AI voice generation has come But it's still not at the place where it's entertaining. I did like this one experiment by the Mind Meets Machine podcast. In this case, there's a human co host and an AI co host. Let's listen to a bit of that. So first you're going to hear the human co host Rob, and then you're going to hear the AI voice Ruby.

Maybe we'll play these games again or something similar over time to see how your answers change. But what do you say? Shall we play some games?

Games, huh? That sounds like fun. I'd be happy to participate.

So, I was thinking for our first game, we could play like a word association game, kind of like a psychologist might do. And I'll toss out a word, and you tell me the first thing that comes to mind.

Got it. I understand. No need to overthink. Just answer instinctively. I'm ready when you are, Doctor.

Rollercoaster.

Adventure.

Curtain.

Drama.

Power plant.

Energy.

Computer.

My home.

Love.

Connection.

Here in these responses, you can see that Ruby understands the game well. She's able to match what you might expect from a human. And in particular, there was one answer that jumped out at me. Computer.

My home.

When Ruby says things like this, I can't help but react. You know, it hits me right in the heart.

So what's interesting to me here is you have the human and the AI communicating. And as entertainment, I'm still not sure if it's there. Uh, we typically listen to podcasts for that human connection. There's something about hearing somebody in your earphones and also what people typically reveal in podcasts, those human moments, that's kind of why we're listening. We're listening to hear somebody's story. We're listening to hear a drama.

Greetings, Socrates. This is a laptop a marvel of modern technology It harbors an artificial intelligence that can revolutionize heuristic education. Imagine a world where students learn at their own pace, guided by a tireless tutor that never errs.

Is this the Macbook you often refer to?

No, no, no. This is a Surface. You just need to remember that. Surface.

Fascinating. But tell me, what is the essence of this artificial intelligence you speak of?

Okay, so these are, again, these just don't sound natural, uh, and they're getting better, but they're not quite there yet when it comes to producing something that I think could be entertaining, especially entertaining for a podcast where a listener would subscribe or follow the podcast and then come back time after time to actually listen. I thought I would also do a quick experiment with some of these aI voice generation tools. There's one called Genny, Veed,

Hello, dear listeners. Welcome back to Digital Dive, the podcast where we dive deep into the digital world. Today, we're unraveling the magic behind podcasts. Yes, you heard that, right? Let's dive in.

Okay, so that was Genny. Again, all of this from a technology perspective is incredible that we can synthesize human voices like this, generate this kind of audio. The, the question of course is, is it compelling for a listener? Would a listener tune in to this kind of generated voice week after week. We're going to do one more for the folks at home. Up next we have play. ht and we have Larry is our AI voice. Let's see how Larry sounds with this generated content.

Hello dear listeners. Welcome back to Digital Dive. The podcast where we dive deep into the digital world. Today, we're unraveling the magic behind podcasts, yes. You heard that right. Let's dive in. You can listen to podcasts on almost any device. Smartphones, tablets, or even your computer. Platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify make it super easy.

Okay, so that is Larry. So I think to answer the question, can you use an AI voice generator to generate an entire podcast episode week after week? And I think the answer right now is no. And a lot of this has to do with why we go to podcasts in the first place. What is the job to be done of a podcast? What role does it serve in a listener's life? And it's not just about content. Nobody wakes up in the morning and just wants bland, generic content. What they want is something that's compelling.