I mentioned Notebook LM recently. It’s a new tool from Google which can summarise documents and content and create FAQs, briefings, and study guides. These are incredibly useful for L&D and a brilliant way to create supportive elements to frame new interventions. However, the tool which most people focused on was the ability to create podcasts.

Using the content as a source, the podcast tool assumes which content is important and then uses it to create a conversation between two people. My mind was, at first, blown. Hearing a couple of voices discuss something I’d written was AWESOME for my ego. After a half dozen attempts though I got bored with the same voices – there are only 2 – using the same shorthand phrases to develop two monologues. there wasn’t dialogue but two voices speaking separate parts from the same content. This was brilliantly summarised by Brianna Ansaldo from Bamby Media:

As Brianna shows us, some people thought it would be a good idea to use these tools to create fully automated podcasts.

If you work in L&D, don’t do this.

Have a listen to a few of the (now) 1783 podcasts and you’ll realise how samey they sound, how uninspiring they are and, as Brianna says, how disconnected they feel.

Podcasts are an AMAZING tool for learning. Don’t use these tools to substitute for expertise and the things which need to be done by real people.