Why audio needs to pass the personality test

Podcasts are now CEOs’ second favourite way to consume ideas. And it’s not just about convenience for busy businesspeople; it’s because they want content that has personality.

About two-thirds of executives say they prefer a more human, less formal tone to an intellectual one — and this is where podcasts excel. Audio and video can create warmth, intimacy and authenticity in a way that’s impossible in a white paper or PDF report. When it’s done well, we feel like we’re in the room with the speaker — and that closeness builds trust.

AI has entered the chat

Now, AI is reshaping audio. Scriptwriting assistants are helping teams to sharpen their ideas, and Google’s NotebookLM can pull together research and generate summaries. And AI-generated audio content is booming.

There are already at least 175,000 AI-generated podcast episodes on Apple and Spotify, and AI voice tools can clone voices, enhance existing narration and even create virtual hosts. But what does it mean for podcasting if AI dilutes the human element?

The idea of fewer podcasters in the world might seem appealing, but a future in which podcasts are made entirely without people is less attractive. The real power of audio is that feeling of a genuine human connection, and leaning too much on AI risks eroding the qualities that make it so popular.

Listeners value the unpredictability and spontaneity of real conversations — the pauses, the humour, the imperfect moments when someone thinks out loud. Real conversation is messy; AI makes things eerily neat.

Overused, it smooths out those edges to create content that sounds professional and polished but also soulless and homogeneous. Gone are the originality and the emotional nuance.

Use AI behind the scenes and humans behind the microphone

In thought leadership, there’s another benefit to podcasting that goes beyond the reach of the recording: the relationships it creates. The act of having a thoughtful conversation in the studio with a client, partner or industry peer can deepen professional connections more than any email chain, conference call or slide deck can.

What’s more, the network effect of a guest sharing the episode with their own audiences is a natural, authentic way to increase its reach.

AI might now be capable of producing podcasts and convincing promotional content for social media, but it can’t generate the emotional connections that come from two people sitting down and talking to each other.

So the future of podcasting probably won’t be a case of choosing between AI and humans. It’s more likely to be a partnership where AI handles the routine work while human guests and hosts bring the insight, personality and emotion — warts and all.

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