a podcast with ai host can mean two very different things. on most of page one it means a show where nobody speaks: a script goes in, two synthetic voices read it out, and a podcast comes back. this page is about the other kind, where you are the guest and the ai host is the one across the desk, listening, reacting and asking the next thing from what you just said. in underway that is called podcast with ai co-host, and it works with the camera on or off.
the short answer: you pick the kind, choose a voice for the host, press start and talk. you can interrupt it, wander off and come back. both voices are recorded, the conversation is cut into a numbered episode, and it stays private until you publish it. the rest of this page covers what each kind of ai podcast is good for, how to record one, what it costs and where it falls short.
what people mean by a podcast with ai host
three different products answer this search, and they suit three different people. it is worth knowing which one you want before you sign up for anything.
- a fully generated show. you give a tool a document, a link or a topic, and it writes a dialogue and reads it in two or more synthetic voices. google's notebooklm made this famous with its audio overviews, and tools like jellypod and wondercraft build whole shows this way. nobody is recorded. it is good for turning reading material into something to listen to on a walk.
- a human show with an ai co-host. a person hosts and an ai voice joins in, live or edited in. a handful of shows have been made like this, usually as an experiment in what the ai will say.
- an ai host that interviews you. you are the one being heard, and the ai does the job a good interviewer does: it asks, listens, follows up and keeps the conversation moving. the words in the episode are yours. this is what underway does.
the first kind is cheap to make and cheap to listen to. the trouble, if you are building a business, is that it carries no trust: nobody hears you, and an audience can tell. the third kind costs you twenty minutes of talking, and in return the episode is you, in your own voice, saying things only you know.
why a podcast with ai host helps a founder talk
most people who try to record a solo podcast stall in the first minute. a microphone with nobody on the other side is a strange thing to talk to. you start presenting, then you run out, then you stop. a second voice changes that. you answer a person rather than an empty room, and the answers come out the way you talk to a friend, which is the way people want to hear you.
a human co-host fixes this too, but a human co-host has a diary. they need to be free when you are, every time, and the show stops when they move on. an ai host is there whenever suits you: before the shop opens, after a call, late at night, twice in one day. the habit only has to fit your day, not two.
the other thing a good host does is remember. underway's co-host can look things up in your own record while you talk: ask what you shipped on tuesday, when you first mentioned a problem or how a week went, and it checks your episodes and your connected activity rather than answering from memory. it says it is checking, then answers with the date it found. if it cannot find something it says so instead of guessing.
a real screen from underway: an episode zero conversation with the co-host, both voices recorded as you talk.
how to record a podcast with ai host in underway
- set up an episode. the first screen asks what kind of episode it is. for sound only, pick podcast with ai co-host under just my voice. to be filmed as well, pick ai co-host on camera, and choose portrait or landscape.
- pick a topic if you want one. a topic picked from what to film is what the co-host opens on. pick nothing and it opens from what it remembers of your series.
- choose the voice across the desk. there are ten, and you can give it a name; left blank it goes by its voice's name and introduces itself that way.
- put headphones in if you have them. on a speaker the host can hear itself, which makes it pause and listen to its own voice.
- start the conversation and talk. interrupt it, wander, come back. it keeps the thread, and it lands where things are going next before it lets you go.
- finish and save. the conversation renders like any other episode: numbered, cut, and kept in your vault until you choose to publish it.
on a camera conversation in the browser you can also share your screen. the window you pick goes into the episode with you in the corner, and with your co-host can see it ticked, the host gets a still every few seconds when the screen changes, so you can ask what it makes of the error at the top of the page. it never sees your camera. the phone cannot share its screen, but the conversation itself runs in the iphone app, by voice or on camera.
ai co-host or ai interviewer: which to pick
underway has a second way to make a podcast with an ai voice in it, and the difference matters. the audio interview asks set questions, written from what you picked and shown to you before you start. it asks each one out loud, waits while you answer for as long as you like, and moves on. it never follows up. the co-host is the opposite: no list, no set order, and it digs in when you say something worth digging into.
| podcast with ai co-host | audio interview | |
|---|---|---|
| how it runs | a live conversation that talks back | one question at a time, asked out loud |
| the questions | none written in advance; it follows you | written from what you picked, seen before you start |
| follow-ups | yes, from your own words | no; each answer is yours to finish |
| how long | until you end it, thirty minutes at most | as long as your answers run |
| what it uses | co-host time from your plan | nothing extra; it is on every plan |
| best for | a day you want to be pushed | a day you want to say four things cleanly |
neither is better. a founder with a clear list of things to say gets a tighter episode from the audio interview. a founder who does not know yet what the episode is about can find it by talking.
on camera or voice only
voice only is a podcast in the plain sense: two voices, no lighting, no framing, recordable from a car, a walk or a sofa. a voice episode also gets a video drawn for it, your episode card with a waveform moving to both voices and the words captioned, so it can go to youtube, tiktok, instagram, linkedin and x like any other episode.
on camera, it is the kind of podcast that goes up on youtube with the camera running: you, to camera, in the frame you chose, with the host's voice across the desk. it is one continuous take of you with both voices. people who find you through video tend to want to see the person, so on camera is worth it on the days you have the energy for it.
voice only needs nothing but a phone and somewhere to talk. an ai illustration, not a customer.
what it costs
the conversation uses co-host time, which comes with every paid plan and resets on the first of the month: thirty minutes on founder, two hours on series, three hours on studio, four hours a seat on company record. a call runs thirty minutes at most. if you need more, extra hours are $9 each, paid once, and they carry forward while your membership is active. every new account starts with a 7-day free trial of founder, series or studio, which includes founder's half hour.
the audio interview and the video interview use none of it, on any plan. the co-host is a choice for some episodes, and the interview is always there for the rest.
where it goes after you record
every series with an address has a podcast feed on the series plan. submit it once to apple podcasts and spotify from their own dashboards, and every audio episode lands on both from then on, in order. your public page shows listen as a podcast, with a play control under each episode that has audio.
each episode also comes with the words for each network: a youtube description, a linkedin post, an x thread and captions, written from what was said in it.
a real screen from underway: a finished co-host conversation on its episode page, ready to post or keep.
what an ai host should never do
an ai host that talks well is easy to build. one you can trust with your own show is harder. a few rules underway holds to, and that are worth asking of any tool you try:
- it never puts words in your mouth. the episode is what you said, in the order you said it, with filler taken out and nothing added.
- it never pretends to know. when it looks something up and cannot find it, it says so.
- it never records anyone who did not agree to it. the co-host is never put into a call with a real guest; a guest interview is its own kind, and the guest agrees to be recorded before their mic goes live.
- nothing leaves until you say. every episode sits in your vault, private, until you publish it.
tips for a better conversation
- talk about one thing that happened, not your whole week. a conversation about one thing has somewhere to go.
- when it asks something you do not want to answer, say so and talk about something else. it is your show.
- interrupt it. a conversation where you wait politely for every sentence to finish sounds like a recording of a call.
- end while you still have something to say. the best episodes stop a little early.
is there a podcast with an ai host that interviews me?
yes. in underway, podcast with ai co-host is a live conversation where the ai asks and follows up and you answer. both voices are in the episode, and the words are yours.
can i film a podcast with ai host on camera?
yes. pick ai co-host on camera and choose portrait or landscape. you are on screen the whole time, with the host's voice across the desk.
how long can a conversation be?
up to thirty minutes a call. you end it whenever you like before that.
what is the difference between the co-host and the audio interview?
the co-host talks back and follows up. the audio interview asks set questions written from what you picked, one at a time, and never follows up.
is an ai generated podcast the same thing?
no. a generated show, like notebooklm's audio overviews, has synthetic voices reading a script and nobody recorded. with an ai host that interviews you, every answer is your own voice.
do i need special equipment?
no. a phone or a laptop is enough. headphones help, because on a speaker the host can hear itself.
more on the host that asks the questions: an ai podcast host that interviews you.
nothing but a phone in your pocket: how to record a podcast on your phone.
Originally published at https://underway.life/podcast-with-ai-host
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