Artificial intelligence — both its promises and perils — was Topic A this week at NAB Show New York. Its use by broadcasters and podcasters is expected to fast-track at a rapid pace for a variety of use cases, from streamlining operations and doing show prep, to analyzing listener data and optimizing ad performance in real time.

Sheryl Worsley, VP of Podcasting at Bonneville International, says the quality of the technology has improved by leaps and bounds in just a couple of years. “The rate at which it gets great is going to accelerate even more, and that means we will use it more,” she said Wednesday during a panel discussion focused on the evolution of AI. With media companies slimming down workforces, Worsley believes AI can help them get the most out of their hosts. “If your talent wants to do something like a podcast, look for the efficiencies in their day that you can glean from AI so that they can produce more original content,” she said.

News reporters can free themselves up to do more original reporting by using tools like AI-powered clip maker Opus Clip to create social media posts for their stories. “There are a lot of things that AI is going to be able to do for us. We’ve just got to be willing to look,” Worsley noted.

As over-the-air ad dollars continue to decline, Matt Kellogg, VP of Sales and Business Development for audio content delivery network SoundStack, predicts AI will allow radio stations to save as much as 40% on production costs. “I think that could help stabilize the market,” he told the NAB Show audience.

For example, AI can be used to streamline and speed up content production processes. Advanced editing tools enable audio clips to be converted into short videos by adding gifs that relate to the topic being discussed. Instead of relying on Final Cut Pro or similar editing tools to create clips from video source material, “AI can do that in a matter of minutes, based on the translation that it does with the transcripts,” Kellogg said. “Whether it’s video or audio as your source content, it’ll create a clip. It’s simplifying and speeding up the process.”

The technology is also useful for keeping up with pop culture trends. When something goes viral on Reddit, Facebook, or Google Trends, a SoundStack tool will pull up a relevant clip from your archives that can be repurposed and socialized.

AI can also track the top people mentioned in a podcast series. When one of them makes news or starts trending, clips about them from previous shows can be reposted and socialized.

‘Radio Early On The AI Ball’

Some of the cost savings broadcasters and podcasters realize from AI efficiencies can be used to retain and better reward air talent and to invest more in content. “Radio is early on the ball this time with AI, which is great,” Kellogg said. “I do believe that the resurrection of radio is possible and we’re seeing that already.”

Beyond freeing talent from what some may see as grunt work, artificial intelligence is also being used by programming and marketing departments. Realizing that women 55+ are not big podcast listeners, Worsley said she used AI to discover that 86% of them consume content on YouTube. Bonneville now uses that platform to market its shows to this demo.

Advertisers are using AI tools to not only find the best podcasts to dynamically insert their ads into but the best fitting episodes. “There may be a specific episode about a certain type of technology that is going viral, and we can see the stats that are being generated by that,” Kellogg explained. “So, a sales exec can quickly go out and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got some trending stuff. Let’s get you on the air right now.”

Three examples of AI in action can be observed on the website of Bonneville’s news/talk KSL-AM/FM Salt Lake City (1160/102.7). One tool allows readers to listen to print-based news articles. Another generates key takeaways from an article and a third translates the story into Spanish. The website discloses that AI is used for these functions.

Overcoming AI Challenges

Like anything new and evolving, there are challenges with AI. True crime is a big category for Bonneville and other podcasters, yet it has become harder to sell due to AI-powered brand safety services that flag potentially offensive content for advertisers. “We go out of our way to make sure we’re not being graphic or exploitative of the people and their tragedies,” Worsley said of shows like “Cold,” which has racked up 85 million downloads. “So, I take exception with companies like Barometer that flag all of those words that need to be used in a true crime podcast. I think it needs to get better, because we’re missing revenue because of it.”

Other AI challenges for broadcasters and podcasters include protecting media outlets’ copyrights and negotiating voice licensing rights in talent contracts.

The session was moderated by Jon Accarrino, Founder, Ordo Digital. – Paul Heine for Inside Radio