AI and Podcasting: A Conversation with Carl Robinson - Part 2

AI and Podcasting - Talking to Computers “Branded podcasting was one of the first things that I thought this would be perfect for, and I still personally believe that branded podcasts are one of the biggest untapped opportunities in podcasting because there are just so many companies out there that don’t yet have a podcast. And podcasting really is, you know, on the up. Soon it will be ‘you have to have a podcast,’ it’s not just a nice-to-have, and I think voice technology will spur that on as well. We’re already asking for a lot more audio on demand, so I feel like more and more companies just need to have more content on demand through voice interfaces, you know, as a catalyst.” -- Carl Robinson   This episode’s the second half of my interview "AI and Podcasting" with podcast host, AI data scientist, and Rumble Studio CEO, Carl Robinson, as we talk about what podcasting’s growth means for businesses, balancing digital convenience with a human touch, and just how intelligent is artificial intelligence. As always, if you have questions for my guest, you’re welcome to reach out through the links in the show notes.  If you have questions for me, visit www.audiobrandingpodcast.com where you’ll find a lot of ways to get in touch. Plus, subscribing to the newsletter will let you know when the new podcasts are available. And if you’re getting some value from listening, feel free to spread that around and share it with a friend, along with leaving an honest review. Both those things really help – and I’d love to feature your review on future podcasts. You can leave one either in written or in voice format from the podcast’s main page. I would so appreciate that.   An Untapped Opportunity As the second half of our interview begins, Carl tells us how Rumble Studio’s conversational AI is particularly suited for branded and company podcasts. “Branded podcasts,” he says, “are one of the biggest untapped opportunities in podcasting because there are just so many companies out there that don’t yet have a podcast.” We discuss podcasting as a labor of love vs a business necessity as well as the role sound quality plays in our listening habits, and whether there’s a happy medium to be found. “If I turn on a podcast,” Carl explains, “and it’s at all difficult to listen to I’ll just turn it off immediately but I don’t think I’ll listen to a podcast just because it has fantastic sound quality.”   The Human Quality Next, we talk about how software tools like Auphonic and Resound have made professional audio quality easier to attain than ever, and whether over processing might remove something vital and human from the end result. “If you remove the human quality from the voice,” Carl tells us, “that’s the same as it becoming unintelligible.” We also take a look at the ease of digital voice transformation and how its misuse could add to our skepticism toward online media.  “If nobody believes in the information they're seeing on these platforms,” he notes, “the platforms will die a quick death.”   Like a Digital Parrot As our interview comes to a close, we take a deeper dive into the future of AI, just how authentic it might become, and what that might mean. “If you train it long enough,” Carl observes, “with enough data, it sounds incredible... but it's so far from being sentient it's not funny” He explains how machine learning algorithms work and how, like a digital parrot, chatbots emulate human speech and interaction without truly understanding what it is they’re saying. “Those models that you create,” he observes, “don't understand anything that you're saying. There is no understanding of...