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NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

simonwillison.net

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Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#81
post #20

Do people actually enjoy this type of AI-generated "podcasts" vs human-produced shows? As a podcast listener, I lose interest if I can tell the audio is AI-generated...

> As a podcast listener, I lose interest if I can tell the audio is AI-generated...

I've never naturally come across a podcast that's AI generated to have this reaction.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#82

NotebookLM's is incredibly good at generating the affect and structure of a quality podcast. This is in-line with all art, music, and video created by LMM at the moment. They are imitating a structure and affect, the quality of the content is largely irrelevant. I think the interesting thing is that most people don't really care, and AI is not to blame for that. Most books published today have the affect of a book, b…

[deleted]

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#83
post #68

NotebookLM's is incredibly good at generating the affect and structure of a quality podcast. This is in-line with all art, music, and video created by LMM at the moment. They are imitating a structure and affect, the quality of the content is largely irrelevant. I think the interesting thing is that most people don't really care, and AI is not to blame for that. Most books published today have the affect of a book, b…

I ran one of my papers into it, mind blown how well they dumbed it down without losing too much details (still quite a lot was ommitted). I wonder if it's domain specific, and I wonder what's the variance by topic.

I did the same thing, running one book I edited and another book I wrote through it, and it did quite well. I was particularly impressed with how the “hosts” came up with their own succinct examples and metaphors to explain what I had written at much greater length. (I should mention that one of those books was in Japanese, and they captured it clearly in English.)

Lately, when I just want to get the gist of a long article or research paper, I run it through NotebookLM and listen to the podcast while I’m exercising.

My only complaint is that the chatty podcasty gab gets tiring after a while. I wish it were possible to dial that down.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#84
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think and hope that you're wrong. There's always been cheese, and there's a lot of it now. But there is still a market for top-notch insight. For example, Perun. This guy delivers an hourlong presentation on (mostly) the Ukraine-Russia war and its pure quality. Insights, humour, excellent delivery, from what seems to be a military-focused economist/analyst/consultant. We're a while away from some bot taking this ki…

Seriously, hardcore history? I dont even remember where I heard from him, but I think it was a Lex podcast. So I checked out hardcore history and was mightily disappointed. To my ears, he is rambling 3 hours about a topic, more or less unstructured and very long-winded, so that I basically remember nothing after having finished the podcast. I tried several times again, because I wanted it to be good. But no, not the…

Try “fall of civilizations.” Best pod I know. Maybe Shwep.net

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#85

NotebookLM's is incredibly good at generating the affect and structure of a quality podcast. This is in-line with all art, music, and video created by LMM at the moment. They are imitating a structure and affect, the quality of the content is largely irrelevant. I think the interesting thing is that most people don't really care, and AI is not to blame for that. Most books published today have the affect of a book, b…

I think and hope that you're wrong. There's always been cheese, and there's a lot of it now. But there is still a market for top-notch insight. For example, Perun. This guy delivers an hourlong presentation on (mostly) the Ukraine-Russia war and its pure quality. Insights, humour, excellent delivery, from what seems to be a military-focused economist/analyst/consultant. We're a while away from some bot taking this ki…

This is true but the quality frontier is not a single bar. For mainstream content the bar is high. For super-niche content, I wouldn’t be surprised if NotebookLM already competes with the existing pods.

This will be the dynamic of generated art as it improves; the ease of use will benefit creators at the fringe.

I bet we see a successful Harry Potter fanfic fully generated before we see a AAA Avengers movie or similar. (Also, extrapolating, RIP copyright.)

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#86

NotebookLM's is incredibly good at generating the affect and structure of a quality podcast. This is in-line with all art, music, and video created by LMM at the moment. They are imitating a structure and affect, the quality of the content is largely irrelevant. I think the interesting thing is that most people don't really care, and AI is not to blame for that. Most books published today have the affect of a book, b…

But why would I buy those books or listen to those podcasts that are synthetic affectations of no substance?

I wouldn't read an AI-generated book (except maybe once as a curiosity), but I would definitely listen to AI-generated music if it were good enough.

Reading a book is a time investment so I want it to convey the thoughts of another human being, otherwise it would feel like wasting my time. Listening to music, on the other hand, often is something that I do while I exercise, to keep a brisk pace and not get bored. As long as it sounds good, fits the genres and styles I like and is upbeat enough for exercising, I wouldn't have much of a problem with AI music - maybe it would even be a plus, since there are some specific music genres where I have already listened to pretty much everything there is (and no more is being made), and it would be great to have more.

I don't listen to podcasts, but I suppose in that case it depends on how you do so: devoting your full time and attention like a book, or as a background while you do something else like exercise music? As far as I know, many listeners are in the latter case, so I don't see why they wouldn't listen to AI podcasts.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#88
Gave it a bunch of technical papers and standards, and while it's making up stuff that just isn't true, this is to be expected from the underlying system. This can be fixed, e.g., with another internal round of fact-checking or manual annotations.

What really stands out, I think, is how it could allow researchers who have troubles communicating publicly to find new ways to express themselves. I listened to the podcast about a topic I've been researching (and publishing/speaking about) for more than 10 years, and it still gave me some new talking points or illustrative examples that'd be really helpful in conversations with people unfamiliar with the research.

And while that could probably also be done in a purely text-based manner with all of the SOTA LLMs, it's much more engaging to listen to it embedded within a conversation.

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#89

This is impressive from a technical point of view and probably useful from an educational one; I really like the idea that a piece of text can be transformed into any kind of media format easily, depending on your preferences. As recently as a year ago I was using Apple’s text to speech tool to listen to Wikipedia articles while biking, and needless to say, they weren’t very exciting to listen to. But I don’t think i…

Being able to automate words, I think, will reveal how important actual human connection is.

> We always start with a clear overview of the topic, you know, setting the stage. You’re never left wondering, “What am I even listening to?” And then from there, it’s all about maintaining a neutral stance, especially when it comes to, let’s say, potentially controversial topics.

Oh yeah, this is exactly why I listen to Oxide's podcast! (This is a joke. They often launch into topics with no explanation or context, and are unabashedly opinionated.)

Re: NotebookLM's automatically generated podcasts are surprisingly effective

#90

NotebookLM's is incredibly good at generating the affect and structure of a quality podcast. This is in-line with all art, music, and video created by LMM at the moment. They are imitating a structure and affect, the quality of the content is largely irrelevant. I think the interesting thing is that most people don't really care, and AI is not to blame for that. Most books published today have the affect of a book, b…

I think and hope that you're wrong. There's always been cheese, and there's a lot of it now. But there is still a market for top-notch insight. For example, Perun. This guy delivers an hourlong presentation on (mostly) the Ukraine-Russia war and its pure quality. Insights, humour, excellent delivery, from what seems to be a military-focused economist/analyst/consultant. We're a while away from some bot taking this ki…

Different strokes for different folks...

We all seek different kinds of quality; I don't find Peruns videos to have any quality except volume. He reads bullet points he has prepared, and makes predictable dad jokes in monotone, re-uses and reruns the same points, icons, slides, etc. Just personally, I find it really samey and some of the reporting has been delayed so much it's entirely detached from the ground by the time he releases. It's a format that allows converting dense information and theory to hour long videos, without examples or intrigue.

Personally, I prefer watching analysis/sitrep updates with the geolocations/clips from the front/strategic analysis which uses more of a presentation (e.g. using icons well and sparingly). Going through several clips from the front and reasoning about offensives, reasons, and locations is seems equally difficult to replicate as Peruns videos, which rely on information density.

I do however love Hardcore history - he adds emotion and intrigue!

I agree with your overall hope for quality and different approaches still remaining stand out from AI generated alternatives.

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