Google Shortwave Leaked First Look Reveals AI-Powered Podcast Curations Based on User Preferences

Google Podcasts made its official debut back in June this year coupled with certain AI-based recommendations. Now, the company's second attempt at an experimental podcast curation app, Google Shortwave was spotted late last month. A report has since surfaced that gives us the first look at the details of Google Shortwave, which is a project being developed under Area 120, the tech giant's workshop for Google's range of experimental products. The leaked Brand Statement suggests that Shortwave would focus on intelligently filtering podcasts and giving you ones that suit your preferences the best.

Not just that, the Shortwave app would seemingly slice up the podcasts and give you only relevant portions so as to make the most efficient use of your time, reports 9to5Google. While the report believes that manual curation and human effort could make such a feat possible, the involvement of the experimental Area 120 tag team suggests that futuristic AI capabilities would be employed to achieve it.

Photo Credit: 9to5Google

The screenshots have been procured from an unnamed former Google designer, and show a minimal home screen that displays a greeting similar to the one seen on Google Assistant. The Shortwave app then asks for your preferences including options like Laugh (comedy, stand-up, banter, interview), Learn (Science, Psychology, Space, Nature), and Listen that includes the editor's curated picks. The mention of editor's picks in the last option could mean that the other two topics are actually curated by AI technology working behind the scenes.

However, considering it is a part of Area 120, Google Shortwave isn't yet ready for the mainstream. The division makes products with an idea to make them feasible and bring them to the public in due time.

Last month, Google had confirmed to The Verge that Shortwave is indeed part of the Area 120 incubator. The tech giant claimed that this new app would help users discover and consume spoken-word content in newer ways. The 9to5Google report suggests that there is a possibility Shortwave could just be implemented as a feature on Google Podcasts in the future.