It’s a collision of values. The pride of podcasting is its personality. The value of AI is its automated replicability. Unstoppable force meets immovable object.
That’s one way to frame the launch of Inception Point AI, a podcast creation machine which reportedly produces 3,000 podcast episodes per week.
“Clearly, we’ve struck a nerve.” — Jeanine Wright, Co-Founder and CEO, Inception Point AI
Wright acknowledges the criticisms in what she calls “the passionate discourse” around the founding. “Clearly, we’ve struck a nerve,” she says. Her responses are in a combative article posted last week: “Inside the AI Slopocalypse: Why We’re Not Backing Down.“
Wright argues about values:
What is art? Who decides what counts? What tools are allowed in its creation? What makes something valuable, worthy, or useful? Does something only matter if it is considered art, or can it still matter if it simply informs, teaches, or sparks a conversation, even if it does not come from a purely human perspective? — Jeanine Wright
We sampled an Inception podcast: Dog Training, Hosted by Oly Bennet. When we ask Google about Oly Bennet, we are informed: “A host of the podcast ‘Dog Training with Oly Bennett,’ focusing on applying athletic training principles to dog training.”
Listening to Bennet, the presentation is mostly convincing, although after a few minutes we started feeling a tiresome sameness in the performance. Keeping in mind that podcast listening is not always a full-attention occupation, we find the narration viable, at least.
Public Reactions
There should be no surprise that this launch is controversial. Below, a sampling of industry reactions — we have chosen to anonymize these reactions.
“Do you really want to listen to 2 AI avatars talk to each other?”
“I don’t care how good the voices sound. The heart of a great podcast is still two people sitting down and having a real conversation. Listeners still crave depth, nuance, and the energy that only comes from the live interaction of two real humans.”
“AI can churn out endless content, but it can’t replace the trust that podcasts are built on.”
“If we lean too heavily on automation, we risk stripping away the very thing that makes podcasts valuable.”
“The future belongs to shows that keep the human element.”
“So keep podcasting and putting out REAL conversations with REAL people.”
“AI slop platform will go down in flames.”
