You’ll soon be able to listen to your favorite podcast on Spotify in another language “spoken” by the show’s host. Spotify this week unveiled artificial intelligence-powered Voice Translation for podcasts. The pilot feature taps Microsoft Open AI’s new voice generation technology to clone the original speaker’s style and create a “more authentic listening experience” in comparison to voice-dubbing.
Interest in AI’s potential uses has skyrocketed over the last year when ChatGPT went mainstream and showed the public what a generative AI system could create. Spotify’s translation feature is one of the latest ways companies have discovered to incorporate AI into its products. The rabid appetite for AI has also become a point of concern for industry experts who fear that these systems could have dangerous unintended consequences. The Big Tech companies have largely dismissed these concerns, and have focused on catching up with OpenAI, with the belief that having the most effective AI system means potentially creating the tightest relationship with consumers.
Spotify said it’s worked with podcasters like Dax Shepard, Monica Padman, Lex Fridman, Bill Simmons, and Steven Bartlett as part of the pilot program to create AI voice translations in Spanish, French and German for a select number of catalog episodes and future releases. The music streaming app plans to include more shows in the future like Dax Shepard’s eff won with DRS, The Rewatchables from The Ringer and Trevor Noah’s upcoming original podcast.
The first batch of episodes will be translated into Spanish, with French and German rolling out in the coming days and weeks. Both free and paid Spotify subscribers can listen to the translated episodes under the app’s dedicated Voice Translations Hub, which Spotify will continue to update. So far, only a handful of episodes are available from Armchair Expert hosted by Dax Shepard, the Lex Fridman Podcast and The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett.
“We believe that a thoughtful approach to AI can help build deeper connections between listeners and creators, a key component of Spotify’s mission to unlock the potential of human creativity,” Spotify Vice President of Personalization Zaid Sultan said in statement.
Image credit: Spotify