Alright, how’s it goin’? You’re tuned in to The Hidden Soundscape, and I’m Stuart Lawson—radio guy from Buckhaven, podcast enthusiast, accidental tech tester, all that. Today we’re diving into something that’s, well, kind of changing the whole podcasting game. We’re talking about AI here—how it’s shifting podcasting from the shadows to centre stage. Ten years back, podcasting was, eh, mostly a quirky thing for the tech folk—or folk who didn’t mind talkin’ for an hour about their favourite cheese or somethin’ like that. Now, though? It’s everywhere. Feels like everybody has a podcast, and I’m not exaggerating—even my neighbour’s old dog probably has one by now.The explosion is brilliant, yeah, but it means there’s just so much more competition for attention. You wanna get your show noticed now, you really have to bring your best game. There are, what, millions of shows out there? That’s the reality we’re in. So folk like me—maybe you—start feelin’ all sorts of pressure. You’re always hunting for that next great idea, desperately wantin’ your sound to be just a wee bit smarter, fresher, more polished than the last episode. And the production grind? I mean, it’s relentless. I remember my early radio days, sittin’ in the studio way past midnight, nearly asleep, trying to cobble together something good enough to go on air, constantly panicking about missing deadlines.Now, here’s where AI comes in—like some sort of co-pilot that actually knows what it’s doin’. All the stuff that kept me rushin’ against the clock, uh, now you’ve got AI tools that’ll help you brainstorm ideas, whip up scripts, clean up your audio, even knock together a post for social media—all in a fraction of the time. Honestly, what used to take me hours, bouncing around half-awake and grumpy, can now be a twenty-minute job. Sometimes I think, “Where was this when I needed it?” But, hey, I’m just glad it’s here for us now.Let’s talk specifics for a minute—because, honestly, the tools we’ve got now are wild. There’s ChatGPT, for starters. Need to brainstorm an episode or get a script outline? Just toss a prompt in there, and it’ll dish out ideas faster than I can pour myself a cup of tea. Then you’ve got Descript. Instead of fiddlin’ with those nightmare waveforms—oh, don’t get me started—now you edit by messin’ with text. You cut a line in the transcript, and it just chops the audio right out. My old self, sitting there with an editor tool and headphones, clicking and dragging, listening for every “um” and “uh”—if I could’ve had Descript back then, I’d probably have had a lot less grey hair.And if you’ve got, uh, bits of audio that just sound a bit, well, rubbish—Auphonic to the rescue. It’ll balance your levels, cut background noise, all that good stuff, and it’s mostly hands-off. For voices, you’re talking ElevenLabs. They can clone your own voice or generate others—so, aye, in theory, you could have me reading this without me even being here! Then there’s Synthesia for folk who want an AI presenter doing a video. So you’re not always tied to the camera, looking for your best angle or clean t-shirt.Some creators even run fully AI-generated shows. You know, script written by AI, AI voice narrating it, the whole works. I’ll be honest—it’s impressive, but also a bit odd. Feels a bit like letting a very clever robot run your shop. Personally, though, I think most of us are using AI as an assistant, not a replacement. The real sweet spot is saving yourself all that boring, repetitive work—getting transcripts in a snap, chopping out filler words like “um” and “ahh” in seconds, letting the software polish things up while you put your energy into the real, human stuff.And, you know, there’s this worry that if an AI does too much of the job, it’s gonna lose that, uh, raw human feel. Are we heading for a podcast world where every episode sounds the same? Where’s the personality in that? I’ve seen creators worry that their show’ll lose its vibe the more they hand over to machines. I totally get it. Back at the radio station, I once tried to cut every “um” and “ah” manually from a guest’s spiel—it took forever, and at some point I thought, “Wait, does it even sound better now, or just more robotic?” Sometimes, leaving in the odd flub is what makes something genuine, y’know? There’s always this balance—make it smooth, but not so smooth it puts folk to sleep.So, where’s all this heading? Well, what excites me most is how AI is flattening out the whole learning curve. If you’re totally new to podcasting, you’ve now got this toolbox that takes away most of the scary bits. You could go from “I fancy recording a show about old Scottish railways” to publishing something genuinely polished—without needing a massive budget or years of practice. Barriers are just falling over. And for seasoned pros, you can scale up. More episodes, more side projects, higher audio quality—maybe even experiment with personalizing episodes for your listeners. There’s this real buzz about what’s possible when tech stops slowing you down.It’s not all sunshine, though. Maybe you’re thinking, “Aye, but isn’t it going to make podcasts sound… bland? Like nobody behind the mic, just the same voices and structures on repeat?” That’s a valid concern. The risk is, we lean so hard on AI workflows that the shows get formulaic or lose that spark only a real person brings. The trick is keeping your own style at the center, using the tech as a boost—not a replacement for your stories or sense of humour or, I dunno, weird taste in music.I like to imagine the next few years looking like this: you dream up a show, toss ideas into your AI co-pilot, let it do the heavy lifting—scripting, cleaning, packaging, promoting—and you focus on your real creative voice and building that personal connection with listeners. Maybe you’ll have entire shows generated at the push of a button, but it’ll be your personality and perspective that shines through. I’m curious, if you’re listening right now—what part of your workflow gets you stuck the most? Editing, marketing, idea generation? Where do you think AI could give you back a bit of your time, or maybe a bit of sanity?There are already podcasters making AI a big part of how they work, and it’s only picking up speed. If you’re not already dabbling with these tools, might be worth a look. In the end, it’s about using the best bits of tech to suit our own way of telling stories—finding that sweet spot between efficiency and realness. Anyway, thanks for joining me today to ramble through the wild world of AI podcasting. There’s loads more to cover, so stick with me—next time, we’ll dig into the nitty gritty of planning and scripting using AI, and maybe I’ll even let an AI suggest my opening joke. Cheers for listening, and catch you in the next one!

Episodes

The Future of Podcasting with AI