AI Hallucinations and Zeitgeisty Moments FTW

Happy Thursday Party People!

I decided this week that I am going rouge on my newsletter schedule and I promise to only write these when I actually have something to say, imagine that. This week I am not coming in hot, more like slow and wobbly. Its been a long week and the treadmill is winning, again. Like my friend Maceo says, knees are wasted on the youth.

I saw an article this week that really caught my attention, mainly because it reaffirmed my negative feelings about the AI editing of podcasts, specifically with Descript. Full disclosure, it's not personal, Im sure its a great company but the whole concept has bothered me since they came on the podcast scene a few years ago. Descript is a podcast editing tool that will allow you to edit the transcript of the audio file and it will edit the audio based on those adjustments. What bugs me out is the feature where you can add content that wasn't there. You can literally type a new sentence and the AI will recreate the voice to add the audio to the production. For me, this was the first introduction to the world of deep fakes and how real of a problem it actually is. The Descript app is used by more than six million creators, that's a lot of liability.

At Heartcast Media we pride ourselves on the work we do with important people like the oldest law firm in Washington DC and various Government arms and organizations. Our content is secure and we edit our podcasts the old fashioned way, with our ears and hands. Wild, I know. Don't get me wrong, using AI for summarizing the content from the actual audio is a game changer. It has saved us so much time and really opened things up for the team and I to focus on more important things, like creating really effective content for our clients.

However, the idea that I could take an audio recording from James Comey, for example, and add our own text into the document and it would fake the funk on his voice using samples from the rest of the podcast, is not only scary but a massive violation of trust. I think its absolutely terrifying that anyone is open to this level of electronic manipulation but as an agency who serves people doing important work, its an absolute no from us. We cannot open our clients up to that kind of liability. In fact, we should probably add that to our terms and conditions so our clients are reminded we would never put them in harms way.

So, when this week's headlines hit I was vindicated in my paranoia. "Is your work in Descript being used to train generative AI tools - and could it leak out in other forms?"

Say no more fam, Im already on Team Nope, this is one of many many many ways that this tool will prove to be problematic. So your content, your sales pitches, your stories, etc can accidentally be inserted into other people's content, hence the AI hallucinations.

You are probably wondering why any of this should matter to you, here is the bottom line. If you are working with an independent podcast editor or an overseas contractor, there is a really solid chance your content is on OpenAI and your reputation is at risk because with those files on Descript anyone can make it seem like you said anything, can you imagine the implications of that? If there was ever a good time to work with an agency and get real clear on the tools they use, it's now. Podcasting for business development is not going anywhere, it's just getting legs under it but working with the wrong people will not only waste your money but might potentially put you in great risk for lots of reasons.

“Generative AI is just another way to describe wholesale theft of intellectual property,” Jussi Ketonen, a former computer scientist at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab told me last weekend. “And AI hallucinations are like the fingerprints of the thief. It’s as if I broke into your house and stole your jewelry, and on my way out the door, I told you that I did it for the sake of humanity.”

I don't know about you but I have a hard enough time dealing with the things I actually say, I don't need robots making it worse. If there was ever a time to vet your vendors and check all the boxes, especially with your podcast production, it's now. The world is changing rapidly and a lot of it can help our businesses and make things better, but not all of it. It's impossible to understand all of it but you can start with the low hanging fruit and making sure your podcast is NOT being edited with Descript is a good start.

Let's grab a virtual coffee

Molly "No Deep Fakes" Ruland