When Machines Pitch to Podcasts: My Brush with AI-Generated Guests

My Author / Artist Podcast ‘Spoken Label’ has been running for eight and a half years now and delivers a professional, well-known respected, organised and friendly Podcast to everybody who appears on it.

A few years back to bring on some more international guests occasionally to make it a little different, I joined the website Matchmaker.fm.

Through this website (which I have to state is an excellent resource), I have featured guests all over Europe, India, and North and South America to name but a few places and am always open to quality guests from there and anywhere else, a concern I have encountered today is fraudulent guests.

Although it is known that Amazon has been cracking down on A.I. written novels, what is less known is the fact that people are using them to form covering letters to appear on Podcasts.

The letter I am going to include in part on this article has forced me to change the rules for appearing on Spoken Label after it drew a 100% A.I. ranking of an AI Detector.

First up, “Hello! My name is ***** and I am the author of the compelling book ‘****,’ which explores the transformative journey of turning trauma into powerful storytelling. I have been booked for 100 podcast episodes so far this year, sharing my insights and experiences with diverse audiences. “

This segment of the email drew up several alarm bells right from the off with both my wife (who is as knowledgeable as I am regarding this) when we both spotted the phrase ‘I am the author of the compelling book…’ First of all, I would never send a cover letter to a Podcast or Radio saying my book is just compelling. As a poet, this is a clear case of telling not showing, and the use of the language is very unrealistic and simply is not something a human would write.

The same also applies to the phrase ‘the transformative journey of turning trauma into powerful storytelling’, the danger with this kind of phrasing, it feels like the gentleman in question has sent through a few suggestions to Chat GPT and is just sending around to as many Podcasts as possible.

The second point from this paragraph is the quote I have been on 100 podcast episodes so far this year. Respect to anybody who appears on other Podcasts as there are so many good (and in some cases less good I know) other Podcasts but 100 by the midway point of the year is pushing, as that roughly works out at 1 every 2 or 3 nights. Not a pace I would like to try and keep up with.

However, upon checking them on their website which appears like A.I. written also (but not put through the checker), nothing new has been showing on their website new Podcast wise since March 2022. While it is possible, that the Author may have been on other Podcasts since then, it is another alarm bell that they simply haven’t bothered updating their website to reflect this. A serious error.

“Growing up in a disadvantaged black singing family, my dreams were shattered by a predatory stepfather. Years later, I confronted this painful past, transforming my trauma into a narrative of heartache and redemption. ‘****’ delves deeply into these themes, offering readers a blend of passion and pain that leads to profound personal and creative growth. Through my book, I provide insights into how facing hard truths can unlock one's creative potential, gain new perspectives, and develop a deeper emotional connection with their writing. “

I am not going to comment on the writing background, but again the wording about disadvantaged black singing families seems all too robotic and don't start me with the sections about the narrative of heartache and redemption and unlocking one’s creative potential.

Whenever I write cover letters, even if I reuse some of the paragraphs on the cover letter (segments which appear on my bio), it is important you make the cover letter seem like it is you, this letter fails on all accounts.

Here are three potential podcast episode ideas: - Transforming Trauma into Art: How confronting painful past experiences can fuel creativity and lead to powerful storytelling. - Finding Your Voice: The journey of self-discovery and developing a unique narrative style through personal hardship. - Emotional Connection in Writing: Techniques for writers to delve deeply into their emotions, creating compelling and relatable characters and stories. Thank you for considering me for your show

This again is clearly AI, the use of the language is very flowery but does not give enough detail about what they wish to talk about. Look at the segment for example “Finding Your Voice: The journey of self-discovery and developing a unique narrative style through personal hardship”, if the writer had expanded this on, he may well have pulled this off, but it simply doesn’t go into enough detail to show what they want to talk. It sounds false.

Of course, the Author could be genuine, but the danger is when you submit covering letters like the above, it asks questions if they have put this letter through Chat GPT with say just a few prompts and didn’t bother rewriting it afterwards, it raises the point what is their book like Is this novel completely AI written also? This brings up a warning that as hosts we need to address for our safety whether for interviews or segments on our shows whether in person or online more and more.