AI tools could become journalists' 'ears' in the podcast era

(CLO) A new AI tool can help newsrooms monitor podcasts, track information, and analyze content without having to listen for hours.

Joe Rogan is one of the most prolific podcasters in the world . Over the course of 15 years, he has produced 2,286 episodes, each lasting more than two and a half hours. At a rate of three to four episodes per week, it would take at least 240 consecutive days to listen to all of this content without stopping. Even if someone did that, Rogan has released about 120 new episodes.

After the 2024 US presidential election, two former journalists, Kaveh Waddell and Patrick Swanson, became impressed with Rogan's podcast. Rogan had the ability to reach low-voter male voters, and one of the reasons Donald Trump agreed to appear on the show was to reach that group of voters. Swanson was particularly interested in Rogan's three-hour interview with Trump, even watching it six or seven times.

From there, Swanson and Waddell came up with the idea of creating an AI tool that could follow Rogan's podcast for them. Roganbot was born, which listens to the entire podcast, creates a searchable transcript, highlights key topics, notable quotes, and suggests fact-checks. It helps users stay informed without having to spend hours listening.

Illustration photo.

The project is part of the founders’ larger initiative for “visualization tools”—AI tools that help newsrooms and journalists track specific topics without wading through hundreds of hours of data. If Roganbot can track podcasts, another version could help local reporters track city council meetings.

The biggest challenge in developing Roganbot, Waddell says, is making sure it doesn’t get influenced by Rogan’s perspective. Right now, the AI only analyzes individual episodes without any overall context. But the long-term goal is to expand its reach, tracking Rogan’s entire content and media ecosystem.

Swanson believes the tool could help trace ideas to their origins. Many conspiracy theories often start in the dark corners of the internet before making their way to major platforms. Roganbot could help trace their origins, helping journalists expose when and how an idea began to spread.

Verso — Swanson and Waddell's company — has yet to publicly release Roganbot, but it has already received attention from a number of researchers and news organizations.

Ngoc Anh (according to Nieman Lab)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/cong-cu-ai-co-the-tro-thanh-tai-mat-cua-nha-bao-trong-ky-nguyen-podcast-post337969.html