Artificial intelligence now makes it possible to mass-produce podcasts with completely virtual hosts, a development that is disrupting an industry that is still finding its feet and operating on a fragile business model.
Since Google launched Audio Overview, the first mass-market podcast generator that creates shows from documents and other input, just over a year ago, a wave of startups has sprung up, from ElevenLabs to Wondercraft.
No studio, no human being at the microphone, not even a recording. , .Still a lively podcast, jokes and all. Whether based on a legal document or a school handout, AI tools can deliver cutting-edge podcasts at the click of a mouse.
Leading this movement is Inception Point AI, which launched in 2023 and releases about 3,000 podcasts per week with a team of just eight people.
The immediate goal is to play the volume game, said Jeanine Wright, Inception’s founder and former number two at major audio studio Wondery.
With each episode costing one dollar to produce, only 20 listens are enough to make a profit. Automation has lowered the threshold for selling ad space, which was previously set at several thousand downloads.
Wright gives the example of a “hyper-niche” program about pollen counts in a specific city, heard by a few dozen people that might attract antihistamine advertisers.
With the rise of generative AI, many people are concerned about the poor quality synthetic content, often referred to as “AI slop,” flooding the Internet, especially social media.
Wright told AFP that Inception featured a role for AI in every episode, a reveal that produced “very little drop-off” among showrunners.
“We found that if people like the (AI) host and the content, they don’t care whether it’s AI-generated or whether they accept it.”
Martin Spinelli, a podcast professor at Britain’s University of Sussex, decried the flood of content, which would “make it harder for independent podcasters to gain attention and grow followers” without promotion budgets on the scale of Google or Apple.
The expected surge in programming will also cut into advertising revenue for non-AI podcasts.
“If someone can make 17 cents per episode, and then suddenly they make 100,000 episodes, that 17 cents adds up,” warns Nate DiMeo, creator of “The Memory Palace,” a leading podcast for history buffs.
The industry veteran, whose program began in 2008, said he was skeptical about the widespread adoption of AI podcasts.
But even if listener preferences don’t change significantly, the glut of AI podcasts could “still impact the art form” of independent podcasting to the point where most programs are barely making ends meet.
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 streaming giants ineffective at connecting specific content with their target audiences.
Wright argues that drawing a dividing line between AI and non-AI content is meaningless because “everything will be created with AI,” to one degree or another.
However, he believes AI-generated podcasts with artificial voices will emerge as a distinct genre, somewhat like live-action films and animation, which have proven their storytelling capabilities and appeal over time.
“People who are dismissing all AI-generated content as useless right now are being thoughtless, because there is a lot of great, compelling AI content out there that is worthy of their interest.”
DeMeo doesn’t see it that way. He compares podcasting to reading a novel or listening to a song.
You just “want to connect with another human consciousness,” he said. “Without it, I think there’s less reason to listen.”
published – October 13, 2025 08:55 AM IST