When I saw this floating around, it was hard to believe that Caitlin Huston wasn’t writing for The Onion, but here I am, linking to a very real story at The Hollywood Reporter:
Inception Point AI is attempting to do just that, as the company builds a stable of AI talent to host podcasts, and eventually become broader influencers across social media, literature and more. Amid the high costs for producing narrative podcasts and pricy, short-term contracts for popular hosts, the idea here is being able to own, scale and control the talent (unlike those off-the-cuff humans) and produce shows at a minimal cost.
“We believe that in the near future half the people on the planet will be AI, and we are the company that’s bringing those people to life,” said CEO Jeanine Wright, who was previously chief operating officer of podcasting company Wondery, which has recently had to reorganize under the changing podcast landscape.
The company is able to produce each episode for $1 or less, depending on length and complexity, and attach programmatic advertising to it. This generally means that if about 20 people listen to that episode, the company made a profit on that episode, without factoring in overhead.
If that was not enough nonsense for you, this might push you over the edge:
The team is in the midst of navigating the ethics around creating these AI personalities as the technology advances. Each host now identifies themselves as being AI at the top of the episodes, and they’ve stayed away from having the hosts invent their own backstories, for now, but that could come. Wright says she could eventually imagine having hosts chat with listeners, or sing “Happy Birthday” to them, but there’s wariness about diving in too deep.
“I am not going to create a personality that somebody has a deep relationship with,” said William Corbin, co-founder and CTO of the company. He added that the company does not do hard news at this point, but Wright says they might in the future.
In addition to flooding the podcast landscape with AI garbage, this company doesn’t seem to understand how destructive these things can be. I can’t wait for the AI bubble to burst on companies like Inception Point.