Amazon Brings AI-Generated Podcasts to Its Product Pages. I Tried It.

Amazon has launched a new feature that uses AI to generate a short, podcast-like audio segment where two “hosts” discuss the merits and reviews of a specific product.

I think it could be one of the funniest, closest endpoints to human civilization we’ve seen yet in our new AI-enabled world.

If this sounds a little confusing, here’s an example. I tried it out for diaper rash cream, and, voila! A podcast! (Sound on.)

As you could hear, you can even submit questions about the product, and the “hosts” will answer them.

This, to me, is the funniest possible content that AI and Amazon could create. A format so immaculately conceived and devoid of human touch (except for the free labor of the customer-reviewers, from whose text much of the “podcast” is pulled) that it blows the doors off any earlier concept of “dead internet theory.”

A spokesperson for Amazon told me that the information the “podcasts” are based on is not just the product listing description and customer reviews, but also other online sources. That means it could potentially pull in information from, say, a review here on Business Insider into its discussion of the merits of various toasters. The AI technology is powered by “several AI technologies working together, including Amazon Bedrock,” Amazon said.

Meanwhile, QVC, which feels like some sort of spiritual foremother to this feature, filed for bankruptcy this month. (It’s still operating and expects to reorganize.)

The effect of turning the text on a webpage or document into a casual podcast-like discussion isn’t new. Google’s NotebookLM had this feature for at least two years, allowing you to do things like upload PDFs or send a long Wikipedia page, and get a chatty podcast version to listen to. This is actually kind of cool if you’re someone who prefers learning by listening or wants to turn some truly dry and boring text into something engaging.

Amazon is leaning into AI to help customers shop

I can see the utility for Amazon here. Sometimes, when I’m looking at a product, the page is so bloated with information — the description, maybe a sizing chart, company information, and then potentially hundreds of user reviews — that it can be hard to parse or get the exact answer I want.

In 2024, Amazon added an AI chatbot called Rufus to its app to help with this problem — you can ask questions about products or ask to compare to similar ones. Although I didn’t particularly enjoy it, Amazon had predicted it would generate $700 million in operating profits for the year. So, not bad.

But listening to a mini AI podcast episode? I don’t know, maybe? Maybe there are people out there who would rather listen to this than read?

I couldn’t get it to make me a podcast discussing toilet paper

There are some shortfalls. For example, I tried it out on the Bissell Little Green mini wet vacuum — one of the products Amazon’s PR suggested as an example of the new feature. I own the full-size version of this vacuum and am curious whether the mini version is just as effective, so I asked the podcast about the differences.

Although the hosts quickly got to my answer, the male voice said that they didn’t have information on the specs of the larger one to compare, and if I wanted to compare, I should check out the page for the full-size version. Harumph.

For now, not all products have this feature, and it’s not clear why some products do or don’t. (Amazon wouldn’t give me a clear answer on this, and presumably the “podcasts” will expand over time.) I can make some guesses, such as that products with few or no reviews might not get ones, or that certain product categories might not. I attempted to get an AI podcast for toilet paper, wet wipes, and sex toys because I thought any of the above would be funny, but I couldn’t find a product in those categories that offered the feature.

Ultimately, is this worthless or useful? I have no idea. If you hear any good or interesting product podcasts on there … let me know.