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

jcims 2y ago
I’ve probably bought ten books in the last five years that I’ve never read. I’ve heard at least one ad from dozens (probably a hundred) podcast episodes that I didn’t finish.
timoth3y 2y ago
In the case of those books and podcasts, who cares if you read or listen to them? The point is that the books are sold and make the right lists. The point is that the podcasts are downloaded so ads can be sold or that vanity numbers can be reported. In terms of such music and films (whether created by human or AI) sometimes it's just because we are social creatures and need shared experiences to talk with others about.
- peutetre 2y ago
  But knowing it's synthetic, why would you buy the book or listen to the podcast in the first place? There's nothing social or shared in a synthetic affectation.
  - corysama 2y ago
    In an ideal world, I would sit down with an espresso or a beer, and review collections of research papers on a regular basis. In reality, between work, sleep and family, I rarely have anything resembling that kind of time and mental energy reserve available. But, what I can afford is to listen to podcasts while doing other things. Doing that gives me enough of an overview to keep up with a general topic and find new topics that might be worth investing into deeper. Wouldn’t it be great if someone made a podcast channel specifically for “Papers corysama wants to hear about at this moment”? I think so. Apparently, so do a lot of other people. But, they don’t want to list to my specific channel.
Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
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.
- djur 2y ago
  There's background sounds and there's music. Music can communicate as much as the written word. I've listened to algorithmically generated bloop-blops and it's fine for background sound, but if it can't touch my heart it's not really music to me.
  - lugu 2y ago
    To me, as soon as I know it was fully generated it looses it's magic. It doesn't matter how good it is. I see the same with potteries. A factory made pot cannot have more value than a hand made pot with the signature of a human. This touches the very fabric of society. Hard to explain.
- MrScruff 2y ago
  I think it comes down to your area of interest. As a musician and music lover, I spend a significant amount of time trying to find or create music that is both original and good. AI generated music can be a competent imitation of well established ideas and forms, but that’s of zero value to me - I’m not looking for ‘more of the same’ - quite the opposite.
JonathanFly 2y ago
>But why would I buy those books or listen to those podcasts that are synthetic affectations of no substance? A randomly selected NotebookLM podcast is probably not substantial enough on its own. But with human curation, a carefully prompted and cherry-picked NotebookLM podcast could be pretty good. Or without curation, I would use this on a long drive where audio was the only option to get a quick survey of a bunch of material.
llmthrow102 2y ago
That's the same question I have. There is already a ton of great podcasts/music/everything in the niches that I like that I don't have the time to listen to them all. I also like to have quiet introspective time. So where does AI regurgitated slop fit into my life?
- dromtrund 2y ago
  In the case of NotebookLM, the AI generated podcasts aren't competing with existing podcasts, they're competing with other ways of consuming the source material. Would I rather listen to a real podcast? Yes. But no one's making a real podcast about the Bluetooth L2CAP specification.
  - LegitShady 2y ago
    All podcasts compete for peopled time and attention.

I’ve probably bought ten books in the last five years that I’ve never read. I’ve heard at least one ad from dozens (probably a hundred) podcast episodes that I didn’t finish.

timoth3y 2y ago

In the case of those books and podcasts, who cares if you read or listen to them? The point is that the books are sold and make the right lists. The point is that the podcasts are downloaded so ads can be sold or that vanity numbers can be reported. In terms of such music and films (whether created by human or AI) sometimes it's just because we are social creatures and need shared experiences to talk with others about.

peutetre 2y ago
But knowing it's synthetic, why would you buy the book or listen to the podcast in the first place? There's nothing social or shared in a synthetic affectation.
- corysama 2y ago
  In an ideal world, I would sit down with an espresso or a beer, and review collections of research papers on a regular basis. In reality, between work, sleep and family, I rarely have anything resembling that kind of time and mental energy reserve available. But, what I can afford is to listen to podcasts while doing other things. Doing that gives me enough of an overview to keep up with a general topic and find new topics that might be worth investing into deeper. Wouldn’t it be great if someone made a podcast channel specifically for “Papers corysama wants to hear about at this moment”? I think so. Apparently, so do a lot of other people. But, they don’t want to list to my specific channel.

Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago

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.

djur 2y ago
There's background sounds and there's music. Music can communicate as much as the written word. I've listened to algorithmically generated bloop-blops and it's fine for background sound, but if it can't touch my heart it's not really music to me.
- lugu 2y ago
  To me, as soon as I know it was fully generated it looses it's magic. It doesn't matter how good it is. I see the same with potteries. A factory made pot cannot have more value than a hand made pot with the signature of a human. This touches the very fabric of society. Hard to explain.
MrScruff 2y ago
I think it comes down to your area of interest. As a musician and music lover, I spend a significant amount of time trying to find or create music that is both original and good. AI generated music can be a competent imitation of well established ideas and forms, but that’s of zero value to me - I’m not looking for ‘more of the same’ - quite the opposite.

JonathanFly 2y ago

>But why would I buy those books or listen to those podcasts that are synthetic affectations of no substance? A randomly selected NotebookLM podcast is probably not substantial enough on its own. But with human curation, a carefully prompted and cherry-picked NotebookLM podcast could be pretty good. Or without curation, I would use this on a long drive where audio was the only option to get a quick survey of a bunch of material.

llmthrow102 2y ago

That's the same question I have. There is already a ton of great podcasts/music/everything in the niches that I like that I don't have the time to listen to them all. I also like to have quiet introspective time. So where does AI regurgitated slop fit into my life?

dromtrund 2y ago
In the case of NotebookLM, the AI generated podcasts aren't competing with existing podcasts, they're competing with other ways of consuming the source material. Would I rather listen to a real podcast? Yes. But no one's making a real podcast about the Bluetooth L2CAP specification.
- LegitShady 2y ago
  All podcasts compete for peopled time and attention.