Will an AI host your favorite podcast of 2021?

I have been on a bit of a podcast tear lately, and 99% of the time, I was interviewed by a host for 45 minutes to an hour, who then did a bit of editing and posted the podcast using the RSS generator of their choice (or never published, but that is another story).

But on one of the podcasts, I never met the host!

CallumConnects is a “micro-podcast” that comes out every single day. Only two to four minutes long it aims to provide “your daily dose of wholesome entrepreneurial inspiration.” All the guests on this podcast are focused on answering one question: “What was a hurdle you have faced as an entrepreneur, how did you handle it, and what are the key learning you got from it?”

Callum’s jot form captures the audio from his guests automatically.

The host, Callum Laing, has a brilliant way to record his guests. He uses a Jot form that collects all the relevant information about the guest (links, bio, head shot, etc.) and includes a “record button” at the bottom of the form for guests to submit their response right then and there!!

Brilliant! You could collect 50 hours of content in 5 minutes!

The guest information is used to generate intro and outro scripts for Callum to record, and then the recordings are spliced together into the final podcast. Guest submissions are screened, but I imagine that a personal assistant or an Upwork hire does all the screening, organizing, intro/outro scriptwriting. Then Callum batches his recording sessions and hands it back for final editing and distribution. It seems to be working for Callum; according to ListenNotes, CallumConnects is in the top 5% of all pods, and the YouTube versions of the podcast typically get 500+ views.

CallumConnects is a podcast on automatic pilot. There are lots of companies and entrepreneurs who could automate a podcast for fun and profit, just by having a form and a thoughtful question:

• What advice would you give to your 20-year-old self?
• What if you could change one thing?
• What message would you like to send to yourself in the future? (kind of like future.me, but audio).