Meta has taken a significant step in the AI-powered podcast generation space by releasing NotebookLlama, an open-source implementation of the viral generate-a-podcast feature in Google's NotebookLM. This move marks a notable development in the tech and startup community, as it democratizes access to podcast creation technology.

NotebookLlama utilizes Meta's own Llama models to process text files, generating a transcript and adding dramatization and interruptions before converting it to audio using open text-to-speech models. While the results may not be on par with NotebookLM in terms of voice quality, with a somewhat robotic tone and occasional interruptions, the Meta researchers behind the project believe that stronger models could improve the outcome.

This is not the first attempt to replicate NotebookLM's podcast feature, but NotebookLlama's open-source nature sets it apart. However, the project still grapples with the "hallucination problem" common to AI-generated content, where some information may be fabricated.

Despite these limitations, NotebookLlama has the potential to revolutionize podcast creation, making it more accessible to individuals and startups. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see more innovative applications of AI in the audio space.