Who 'ya gonna trust? CNN, Podcasts, ChatGPT…

On my Mastadon feed this week, the question was asked

“Why have #podcasts become so popular in the last few years? What’s changed?”

I think there are a lot of answers…

Figure 1: ChatGPT rendering of “Make an image of Dorothy Gale of Kanasas riding a bucking bronco with the wicked witch flying on her broom in the background and a tornado behind that” by ChatGPT and George Jones is licensed under ????

Figure 1: ChatGPT rendering of “Make an image of Dorothy Gale of Kanasas riding a bucking bronco with the wicked witch flying on her broom in the background and a tornado behind that” by ChatGPT and George Jones is licensed under ????

My answers include

No need for the overhead or editorial control of older media forms. Lower production and distribution costs. A wide range of presenters and topics.

I think there’s going to be another HUGE reason to tune unto long-form talking-heads/analysis style podcasts: You can be pretty sure (at last for a while) that the people talking are people, not, e.g. ChatGPT spitting out articles. If you want to hear what PEOPLE are saying and thinking, for the time being podcasts are it. When we get to the point that AI generation of TV anchors and White House press secretaries is common place, we will have arrived at an existential crisis of trust in all mass-market delivered content.

At that point, your best bet will be to have live, in-person, one-on-one interactions with real people. And, come to think of it, in any event, talking to people more might not be such a bad idea.

#49 of #100DaysToOffload take 2.1, https://100daystooffload.com/


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