Amazon’s copies NotebookLM in the worst way with AI podcasts

As hard as I try not to be a Luddite about the role artificial intelligence plays in our lives, Amazon’s latest development is another example of the occasional “jumped the shark” moment that makes me question everything. The online retailer has introduced Alexa Podcasts, which are informative AI-powered episodes curated for your personal interests.

Available exclusively to Alexa Plus subscribers in the United States starting today, Alexa Podcasts apparently pulls from more than 200 news publications and trusted sources — including the Associated Press, Reuters, and the Washington Post — to generate timely news podcasts with updated information about whatever piques your curiosity at the moment. You can also generate podcasts designed to help you learn new things about specific careers, hobbies, skills, and more.

All you have to do is tell Alexa what you want to hear about and how much free time you have to listen, and it’ll spit out an overview of its planned topics before you give the green light to generate an episode.

NotebookLM already does this, and then some

But Amazon says this is only the beginning

Credit: Amazon

I should preface the following criticisms with a disclaimer: Amazon isn’t exactly the first to make this possible, though it is the first major AI player to market this in a way that feels like it’s trying to replace the traditional podcast.

I listened to the short examples Amazon provided, and in each, Alexa used two completely different hosts, each with their own name in one case. They play off each other in a way that’s logically sequential and sounds convincingly natural at first, but the robotic inflections and intonations quickly became apparent and so bad as to instantly shatter my illusion. The virtual personalities try their best to sound casual, but I can’t get over how forced it sounds (almost like a canned table read of a recap script). There were no personal anecdotes, opinions, or quips to chew on. It doesn’t help that the cover art for each episode is accompanied by generic, tangentially related DALL-E-level illustrations that invoke no meaningful feelings.

It seems like something fun to play with if you’re already an Alexa Plus subscriber, but you may find there are already better tools for the job. It’s possible to do much of this in other AI suites, like Google’s Gemini and NotebookLM, which can combine specific information you provide with the latest news sources and dive much deeper into synthesizing, structuring, and summarizing information (and you can easily check its sources).

If you really need it in that podcast format, you could have Gemini write a script and generate an episode all through the same interface. You could even have it create helpful visuals, quizzes, and other study aids tobetter understand the topic. It probably wouldn’t be as entertaining, but if you’re serious about learning, I’d wager it’s a lot more useful for someone who isn’t wholly convinced that Alexa won’t be hallucinating some of its facts.

To that end, Amazon says today’s iteration is only the beginning and teased future updates that might let you generate podcasts from your own documents and sources.

Does anyone really want AI podcasts?

It just feels like we’re losing the plot

Credit: Gavin Phillips / MakeUseOf

I’m not trying to rain on Amazon’s parade here, especially considering it’s not the only perpetrator, but it just feels like this misses the point of the traditional podcast. Most of us love listening to them because of who’s hosting them. It’s a medium where charismatic experts and enthusiasts can share their perspectives in a more personal, direct, and animated way than legacy broadcasts allow. Some podcasts even allow us to see their physical expressions and energy on video as they dig into stories and engage in meaningful, experience-driven conversations.

We identify with and connect with these people, if not just because we find them entertaining and trustworthy, then at least to catch a vibe you can only get from the ethos and fabric of who they are. You can’t get that with a robot.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying there aren’t scenarios where Alexa Podcasts could be genuinely useful, perhaps if you want to quickly curate fun learning experiences for your children, or you just need a hands-free way to catch up on current events during your commute after work. It just might even be a lifeline for those hyper-niche topics that only you and a handful of people in the world care about, for which no suitable podcast currently exists. But for my regular podcast fix, I’d prefer it if it would just help me find someone human to listen to.

Brand

Amazon

Display

NA

Dimensions

8.3″ x 8″

Weight

9.3lb

Integrations

None; must be paired with another Echo device

Woofer Size

6″