AI in podcasts: when should you disclose it?

When should you say you use AI in your podcast? RSS.com’s Alberto Betella has produced a new website called ’should I disclose’ to help creators know whether they should label their podcast episodes as AI-generated. The guidelines suggest disclosure is based on substance, rather than merely tools. It has an interactive questionnaire asking you six questions to help; and also links to platform guidelines.

When contacted by Podnews, Eric Nuzum from Magnificent Noise said that the website is “asking all the right questions”. However, he told us: "All podcasts require two things from their creators: passion and curiosity. AI can imitate the effects of those things, but it cannot be passionate or creative. So if anyone chooses to do the activities that the site suggests requires disclosure, I’m having trouble imagining it will ever achieve any audience impact worth considering."
John McDermott from Caloroga Shark Media, which produces content using AI as part of the process, tells us that "If an AI voice reads a story well, and allows something to get produced, I think it is a plus. I’m happy to disclose anything - I just don’t want to be unnecessarily penalized for it."
"Podcasting has been a medium built on authenticity and connection,” Amplifi Media’s Steven Goldstein told us. Adding that the website is helpful, he said: "In my view, the issue isn’t whether AI is used. The issue is whether the audience is intentionally misled. Listener trust is foundational to the medium. Transparency matters."
Inception Point AI was also contacted for comment, but the company had not responded by press time.

Apple Podcasts was launched as an app on iPhone in June 2012. It wasn’t the first podcast app - and there was one that was launched three years earlier: with some features that we take for granted today. That app was Google Listen, the first podcast app experiment by Google. In a new article today as part of our history collection, we unveil the v2 design that was never launched, its inevitable pivot to video, and the astonishing engagement figures that the app got - even if that didn’t save it from the Google graveyard.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty is to leave iHeartMedia in July. The show was conspicuously absent from the recent iHeart/Netflix deal. “We love Jay — we have enormous respect for him and what we’ve accomplished together, including both doubling his audience and his revenue, but as sometimes happens with professional relationships, we’re going in different directions,” the company said in an email to advertisers.