NotebookLM is quickly becoming the podcast app I didn’t know I needed

Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more. Mobile NotebookLM is quickly becoming the podcast app I didn’t know I needed AI podcasts may sound like a grim idea on paper, but Google's app is enabling a version I'm actually excited about. By Matt Horne • 22 minutes ago • 0 • • Add AndroidAuthority on Google Andy Walker / Android Authority Many people are already AI-weary, including me. From producing bland content and replacing our jobs to water-hogging data centers and the existential doom risk, there’s a lot to hate about it. ‘AI slop’ has quickly entered our vocabulary, and for good reason. It’s high on that list of reasons to dislike the tech for many people, but we shouldn’t tar absolutely every bit of media churned out by AI tools with that brush. After my recent introduction to AI-generated podcasts created with NotebookLM, I’m ready to defend them — at least to a point. It was Google’s excellent app that opened my eyes, and unlike half of my colleagues , I’ve never even used it myself. Welcome to 2026, where my second-hand AI experiences count as research. Have you listened to an AI-generated podcast? 2 votes Yes, and I can see some benefit 50 % Yes, but I'm against the whole idea 0 % Not yet, but I'm open to trying them 50 % No, they're just more AI slop 0 % What made me come around to NotebookLM Joe Maring / Android Authority I made this realization because I recently visited South Korea for the first time, and thought it might be useful to get a feel for the place before I arrived. Podcasts are my medium of choice for learning these days, so my natural instinct was to jump into my podcast app and see if there was a pod dedicated to Korean culture. After all, there’s one for almost everything else. After scrolling through a few that didn’t quite fit the bill, I came across ‘Understanding Korea, One Story at a Time’ by Jiwon Yoon, Ph.D. It seemed to be just the explainer on the country’s history and cult