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Google's Test Turns Search Results Into an AI-Generated Podcast (theverge.com)

(Friday June 13, 2025 @05:30PM (msmash) from the how-about-that dept.)


Google is rolling out a test that puts its AI-powered Audio Overviews on the first page of search results on mobile. From a report:

> The experiment, which you can enable in Labs, will let you [1]generate an AI podcast-style discussion for certain queries . If you search for something like, "How do noise cancellation headphones work?", Google will display a button beneath the "People also ask" module that says, "Generate Audio Overview." Once you click the button, it will take up to 40 seconds to generate an Audio Overview, according to Google. The completed Audio Overview will appear in a small player embedded within your search results, where you can play, pause, mute, and adjust the playback speed of the clip.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/news/686904/google-audio-overviews-ai-podcast-search



Great for illiterate people (Score:2)

by Big Hairy Gorilla ( 9839972 )

No Reading. Yay! No need for messy keyboards or letters and numbers!

It's great to embrace illiteracy, says Google.

Illiteracy is the natural state of humanity. While we had a moment during the 20th century, we are returning to a modern version of the middle ages, with the Warriors, the Keepers of the Knowledge, the Priests of the Temple, and the unwashed masses. <-- Hint: that's you

jezuz, get a bar of soap will ya?

lacks realism (Score:2)

by toxonix ( 1793960 )

It has to spend 50% of the time talking about the podcast, the podcasters, the podcast sponsors and generally being annoying. Maybe I'm anti-podcast but.. yeah I am. Read a book.

Steve Shives Found the Most Useless AI Tool Yet (Score:2)

by Plumpaquatsch ( 2701653 )

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dl4E_6sHuw

Fundamentally, there may be no basis for anything.