Amazon on Wednesday rolled out Alexa+ Podcasts, a generative-AI feature that turns any spoken prompt into a finished audio episode, according to techcrunch.com. The tool is bundled with the new $19.99-per-month Alexa+ subscription tier that launched the same day.
Users open the Alexa app, say “create a podcast about…” and supply a topic, length and tone. Amazon’s large-language model then scripts narration, selects synthetic voices, inserts royalty-free music and stitches the file into an RSS feed within minutes, techcrunch.com reported. Early beta testers have produced 10- to 30-minute episodes on subjects ranging from medieval history to daily stock briefings, the outlet noted.
The release places Amazon in direct competition with Spotify-backed NotebookLM and Google’s experimental Audio Overviews, both of which offer AI-generated audio summaries but stop short of full podcast production. By bundling creation, hosting and distribution inside Alexa+, Amazon is betting that creators will pay for a friction-free path from idea to feed, especially as Edison Research estimates 135 million Americans now listen to podcasts monthly. The move also widens Amazon’s content moat for Prime and Freevee, giving the company original audio inventory without licensing fees.
Alexa+ Podcasts is live now in the U.S. for subscribers; Amazon told techcrunch.com that multi-language support and monetisation tools such as dynamic ad insertion are scheduled for the second half of 2024. Watch for download metrics and creator revenue splits to surface at the company’s autumn devices event, traditionally held in September.