NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective • Hacker News Board

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#291

Post by RobinL » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:01 PM UTC

handelaar wrote: post #277

So basically what you're all saying is how it's technically impressive. Okay. It is also completely and utterly worthless -- an inefficient and slow method of receiving not-very-many words which were written by nobody at all. The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. There are no opinio…

To take one example of where this is valuable:

- Take some dense research paper or other material that is unsuitable for listening to aloud

- Listen to it (via NotebookLLM) whilst commuting/washing up or whatever

This way you'll have a big headstart on what it's all about when you come to read the details.

I imagine in future we'll see a version of this where the listener can interject and ask questions too, that feels like a potentially very powerful way to learn.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#292

Post by mronetwo » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:02 PM UTC

rafram wrote: post #283

handelaar wrote: post #277

So basically what you're all saying is how it's technically impressive. Okay. It is also completely and utterly worthless -- an inefficient and slow method of receiving not-very-many words which were written by nobody at all. The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. There are no opinio…

> The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. No. Maybe that's true for you , but people enjoy learning in different ways, and some people learn best by listening to a discussion.

Unlikely. It's just that our brains are so fried by our smartphones/social media/24h of news/media consumption that we've lost the plot.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#293

Post by jonplackett » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

If we could just, like, stop it, like, saying like all the, like, time. That would, like, make it 100x better.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#294

Post by mdp2021 » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:03 PM UTC

ranger_danger wrote: post #14

infogulch wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look I agree with you at a certain level, maybe it can't emulate deep conversations about big topics (maybe it can, I haven't seen an attempt...), but a vast vast majority of podcasts and radio shows are just like this: shallow and incredibly simplified with no more than a nod to the underlying concepts. 70% personality, 20% dumb analogies that the producer thought up in thirty minutes, and Honestly, given the person…

Agreed... and no offense to OP but I am now questioning just how in touch with modern society they really are. Would they also observe a rocket launch from the grounds of the space center and go "eh, not really impressive" ? Or maybe they are just defining "impressive" as something totally different to what we're thinking.

Probably acquainted with «modern society» and a bit edgy in the nerves about it.

Probably calling "impressive" something which adds value and does not suggest eerie bits.

Sam Altman: «They laughed at us... Well they are not laughing now, are they». No, but a different kind of "serious" was raised.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#295

Post by mdp2021 » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:06 PM UTC

sodality2 wrote: post #285

handelaar wrote: post #277

So basically what you're all saying is how it's technically impressive. Okay. It is also completely and utterly worthless -- an inefficient and slow method of receiving not-very-many words which were written by nobody at all. The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. There are no opinio…

This is some insane catastrophizing. The value is that it turns it into a form factor that may be easier to consume, pay attention to, etc.

Since when industrial snacks are healthy food?

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#296

Post by humansareok1 » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:07 PM UTC

handelaar wrote: post #277

So basically what you're all saying is how it's technically impressive. Okay. It is also completely and utterly worthless -- an inefficient and slow method of receiving not-very-many words which were written by nobody at all. The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. There are no opinio…

There's definitely not nothing of value here. This could be a useful new medium. I however hate the tone of the two hosts. It sounds like two pompous millennials talking about things they don't really understand.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#297

Post by low_tech_love » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:07 PM UTC

rafram wrote: post #283

handelaar wrote: post #277

So basically what you're all saying is how it's technically impressive. Okay. It is also completely and utterly worthless -- an inefficient and slow method of receiving not-very-many words which were written by nobody at all. The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. There are no opinio…

> The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. No. Maybe that's true for you , but people enjoy learning in different ways, and some people learn best by listening to a discussion.

Assuming you are one of them, I’m curious about one thing (honest question, not meant to disrespect): does it not bother you at all to know that those voices do not belong to any human being? When I listen to a semi-adolescent girl’s voice explaining something with a lot of “like”s and an informal tone, the fact that I know this was AI-generated makes me feel disgusted in my stomach (I am serious, this is not supposed to sound edgy or anything). I feel like my mind is trying to actively imagine the human being behind that voice, at the same time that it knows there’s none at all. Like I’m being cheated?

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#298

Post by tunnuz » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:12 PM UTC

:O

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#299

Post by sodality2 » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:12 PM UTC

mdp2021 wrote: post #295

sodality2 wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is some insane catastrophizing. The value is that it turns it into a form factor that may be easier to consume, pay attention to, etc.

Since when industrial snacks are healthy food?

Conversational audio form is really not an "industrial snack". If I had the chance to listen to podcasts about any topic, I would do so much more often - uploading PDFs of academic papers, manpages, etc.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#300

Post by redleggedfrog » Mon, Sep 30, 2024, 2:13 PM UTC

sodality2 wrote: post #285

handelaar wrote: post #277

So basically what you're all saying is how it's technically impressive. Okay. It is also completely and utterly worthless -- an inefficient and slow method of receiving not-very-many words which were written by nobody at all. The one and only point listening to a discussion about anything is that at least one of the speakers is someone who has an opinion that you may find interesting or refutable. There are no opinio…

This is some insane catastrophizing. The value is that it turns it into a form factor that may be easier to consume, pay attention to, etc.

... insane catastrophizing." Nice unique phrase. Guessing you're not a LLM. ;^)

The thing that is being offered is of no interested to me, as are almost any AI generated content. I'm a human, and am interested in what humans do and say and think. AI content offends my sensibilities at every level. I dismiss it without even thinking twice. So all those people who do podcast, music, art, whatever, with AI, well, you lost me folks. I pay a lot of money for the things I like. AI ain't getting any of it, not out of spite (can't spite an AI, they're not human!) but on principle.