By Nilesh Christopher, Los Angeles Times

Chatty bots are sharing their hot takes through hundreds of thousands of AI-generated podcasts. And the invasion has just begun.

Though their banter can be a bit banal, the AI podcasters’ confidence and research are now arguably better than most people’s.

“We’ve just begun to cross the threshold of voice AI being pretty much indistinguishable from human,” said Alan Cowen, chief executive of Hume AI, a startup specializing in voice technology. “We’re seeing creators use it in all kinds of ways.”

AI can make podcasts sound better and cost less, industry insiders say, but the growing swarm of new competitors entering an already crowded market is disrupting the industry.

Some podcasters are pushing back, requesting restrictions. Others are already cloning their voices and handing over their podcasts to AI bots.

Popular podcast host Steven Bartlett has used an AI clone to launch a new kind of content aimed at the 13 million followers of his podcast “Diary of a CEO.” On YouTube, his clone narrates “100 CEOs With Steven Bartlett,” which adds AI-generated animation to Bartlett’s cloned voice to tell the life stories of entrepreneurs such as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Erica Mandy, the Redondo Beach, California-based host of the daily news podcast called “The Newsworthy,” let an AI voice fill in for her earlier this year after she lost her voice from laryngitis and her backup host bailed out.

She fed her script into a text-to-speech model and selected a female AI voice from ElevenLabs to speak for her.

“I still recorded the show with my very hoarse voice, but then put the AI voice over that, telling the audience from the very beginning, I’m sick,” Mandy said.

Mandy had previously used ElevenLabs for its voice isolation feature, which uses AI to remove ambient noise from interviews.

Her chatbot host elicited mixed responses from listeners. Some asked if she was OK. One fan said she should never do it again. Most weren’t sure what to think.

“A lot of people were like, ‘That was weird,’ ” Mandy said.

In podcasting, many listeners feel strong bonds to hosts they listen to regularly. The slow encroachment of AI voices for one-off episodes, canned ad reads, sentence replacement in postproduction or translation into multiple languages has sparked anger as well as curiosity from both creators and consumers of the content.

Augmenting or replacing host reads with AI is perceived by many as a breach of trust and as trivializing the human connection listeners have with hosts, said Megan Lazovick, vice president of Edison Research, a podcast research company.

Jason ⁠Saldanha of PRX, a podcast network that represents human creators such as Ezra Klein, said the tsunami of AI podcasts won’t attract premium ad rates.

“Adding more podcasts in a tyranny of choice environment is not great,” he said. “I’m not interested in devaluing premium.”

Still, platforms such as YouTube and Spotify have introduced features for creators to clone their voice and translate their content into multiple languages to increase reach and revenue. A new generation of voice cloning companies, many with operations in California, offers better emotion, tone, pacing and overall voice quality.

Hume AI, which is based in New York but has a big research team in California, raised $50 million last year and has tens of thousands of creators using its software to generate audiobooks, podcasts, films, voice-overs for videos and dialogue generation in video games.

“We focus our platform on being able to edit content so that you can take in postproduction an existing podcast and regenerate a sentence in the same voice, with the same prosody or emotional intonation using instant cloning,” said company CEO Cowen.

Some are using the tech to carpet-bomb the market with content.

Los Angeles podcasting studio Inception Point AI has produced its 200,000 podcast episodes, accounting for 1% of all podcasts published on the internet, according to CEO Jeanine Wright.

The podcasts are so cheap to make that they can focus on tiny topics, like local weather, small sports teams, gardening and other niche subjects.

Instead of a studio searching for a specific “hit” podcast idea, it takes just $1 to produce an episode so that they can be profitable with just 25 people listening.

“That means most of the stuff that we make, we have really an unlimited amount of experimentation and creative freedom for what we want to do,” Wright said.

One of its popular synthetic hosts is Vivian Steele, an AI celebrity gossip columnist with a sassy voice and a sharp tongue. “I am indeed AI-powered — which means I’ve got receipts older than your grandmother’s jewelry box, and a memory sharper than a stiletto heel on marble. No forgetting, no forgiving, and definitely no filter,” the AI discloses itself at the start of the podcast.

“We’ve kind of molded her more towards what the audience wants,” said Katie Brown, chief content officer at Inception Point, who helps design the personalities of the AI podcasters.

Inception Point has built a roster of more than 100 AI personalities whose characteristics, voices and likenesses are crafted for podcast audiences. Its AI hosts include Clare Delish, a cooking guidance expert, and garden enthusiast Nigel Thistledown.

The technology also makes it easy to get podcasts up quickly. Inception has found some success with flash biographies posted promptly in connection to people in the news. It uses AI software to spot a trending personality and create two episodes, complete with promo art and a trailer.

When Charlie Kirk was shot, its AI immediately created two shows called “Charlie Kirk Death” and “Charlie Kirk Manhunt” as a part of the biography series.

“We were able to create all of that content, each with different angles, pulling from different news sources, and we were able to get that content up within an hour,” Wright said.

Speed is key when it comes to breaking news, so its AI podcasts reached the top of some charts.

“Our content was coming up, really dominating the list of what people were searching for,” she said.

Across Apple and Spotify, Inception Point podcasts have now garnered 400,000 subscribers.

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Many issues in West Lakeland Township were solved — and political careers were launched — around John McPherson’s kitchen table, over a cup of coffee and a plate of his wife’s chocolate-chip cookies.

John McPherson (Courtesy of West Lakeland Township)

“When I first ran for county commissioner, I went down and met with John and Harriet,” said Gary Kriesel, who served on the county board from 2005 to 2024. “I knew that if you were going to seek office in Washington County, the path to being elected started in their kitchen. You had to go through there because he was so well respected with his strong fiscal management. I mean, West Lakeland had the lowest tax rate for many years because of his fiscal conservative management.”

John McPherson, who served as head of the West Lakeland Township Board from 1968 to 2009, died Tuesday night of congestive heart failure at the Alexandria (Minn.) Care Center. He was 97.

McPherson, a longtime farmer, believed “you always put the interests of the township before your own — and that’s how you should make your decisions,” said former township board chairman Dan Kyllo, who succeeded McPherson in the position.

“He would always tell me, ‘You’ve got to run the township like a business or like your own household finances,’” Kyllo said. “But I always felt John was more tight-fisted with township money than most people are with their own money.”

One lesson imparted by McPherson over the kitchen table has stuck with Kyllo: “He said, ‘You may not please everybody, and most often you won’t, but if you make a decision where each party isn’t happy, you probably made the right decision,’” Kyllo said.

McPherson was adamant about making personal connections, Kyllo said. “He thought that, even in a conflict, if you could face a person, you could work it out.”

And if he agreed with you: “He would not back down. He would stand behind you. I always really liked that about John because he and I didn’t always agree, but we always respected each other. You could always count on him,” Kyllo said.

McPherson fielded many phone calls about potholes, burning permits, weeds and taxes through the years. Township residents would call on “holidays, Sundays and late at night,” but the McPhersons never minded, Harriet McPherson said.

John McPherson told the Pioneer Press in 2009 that he once took a call from a resident who had recently moved to the rural township.

“She said, ‘When are we getting the streetlights?’ ” he told the reporter. “I thought she was kidding, so I said, ‘I think they’re going to start putting them in on Wednesday or Thursday.’ Then I realized that she was serious. I said to her, ‘Why the (heck) did you move out to the country if you wanted streetlights?’ ”

Tried banking, preferred farming

John McPherson grew up in Bayport, and Harriet grew up in rural Afton. They graduated from Stillwater High School in 1946.

John McPherson, the son of a banker, tried working at a bank but told the Pioneer Press that “lasted only two weeks. I didn’t like it. I liked to be outside and farm.”

McPherson started farming when he was in high school when he received a calf as a gift from his grandfather, Harriet McPherson said. His family, who owned 11 acres near the St. Croix River in Bayport, built a little barn for the calf, she said.

“Pretty soon the calf was a cow, and they decided he needed another cow,” she said. “By the time he had 11 cows, he had his own little milk route in Bayport. His mother would help him wash the bottles and everything. You know, back then, you didn’t have to have pasteurized milk. … Everybody knew him, and he knew everybody in Bayport.”

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Sometimes at night, when there weren’t any ballgames being played at Lakeside Park, McPherson would “let his cows go eat the grass over there,” she said. “The council never cared because there was less grass to cut, you know. I’m sure a few times his cows were out on the road where they shouldn’t have been, but the laws were a little looser back then.”

McPherson and Harriet Nelson started dating after meeting at a dance in Lakeland in late 1947. “John just asked, ‘Can I give you a ride home? And I said, ‘Sure,’ because I had come with my brother,” she said. A movie came next, and then a trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

The couple married in 1949 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Lake St. Croix Beach and moved to a 2,500-acre dairy farm on Stagecoach Trail.

The couple had two children, Jack and Sara. Jack McPherson died of complications related to stomach cancer in 2015 at the age of 64.

In addition to farming, John and Harriet McPherson had a seed company — Jacques Seed Co. — and a fertilizer business. They sold off the cows in 1990 and sold most of the land in 1996.

Common sense needed

John McPherson decided to get into politics because he thought that someone with “common sense” needed to be on the board, said Harriet McPherson, who represented the area in the state House of Representatives from 1984 to 1992.

“All the surrounding communities were starting to get kind of goofy, and the Met Council was trying to make everybody go to 10-acre lots,” she said. “John said, ‘No, who wants that? You get 10 acres, and then you’ve got the back five is sitting out there in long grass and junk cars.”

McPherson was a proponent of 2½-acre lots. “It’s beautiful because people take care of 2½ acres,” she said. “Everybody has nice yards, and they keep them up with a lot of shrubs and flowers and trees. I think West Lakeland is one of the most beautiful communities around, and John was very proud of that.”

When McPherson was first elected to the Town Board in 1968, the township’s population was 345. It grew to 4,000 during his tenure, she said.

McPherson also was instrumental in the siting of the Interstate 94 corridor. Original plans called for I-94 to go through the middle of the township, and McPherson successfully fought that, she said.

The McPhersons bought a place on Lake Carlos in Alexandria in 2020. The couple would spend winters at the Alexandria Care Center and summers at their lake house, she said.

‘Gigantic life’

Their daughter, Sara Carlson, followed her parents into politics and served on the Alexandria City Council for nine years and as mayor for eight.

Carlson said her father “lived a gigantic life.”

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“He was big in every way and in everything he did,” she said. “He was proud of his farm and his land and everything that he did. He was a character. He had lots of stories, and he loved so many things, and he loved people, and he loved to hunt and he loved to fish. He loved his kids and the grandkids. He loved so many things in life, but what he truly loved was Harriet. She was the wind beneath his wings.”

The couple traveled the world, including trips to Australia, New Zealand and the Panama Canal, said Harriet McPherson, 97.

“John just loved people and loved life and just, well, it was so nice,” said. “We just had the most wonderful life you could ever imagine.”

The couple is survived by their daughter, Sara Carlson; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Dec. 29 at St. Charles Catholic Church in Bayport, with visitation at Bradshaw Funeral Home in Stillwater from 4-6 p.m. Dec. 28 and at 9 a.m. Dec. 29 at the church.

By STEPHEN GROVES

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee threatened Friday to begin contempt of Congress proceedings against former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton if they refuse to appear for depositions as part of the committee’s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

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Comer’s statement came just hours after Democrats on the committee had released dozens of photos they had received from Epstein’s estate, including images of Clinton and President Donald Trump.

Contempt is one of U.S. lawmakers’ politically messiest and, until recent years, least-used powers. But the way Congress has handled demands for disclosure in the investigation into Epstein has taken on new political significance as the Trump administration faces a deadline next week to release the Department of Justice’s case files on the late financier.

Bill Clinton was among a number of high-powered people connected to Epstein, a wealthy financier, before the criminal investigation against him in Florida became public two decades ago. Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing by any of the women who say Epstein abused them.

One of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Giuffre, once gave a newspaper interview in which she described riding in a helicopter with Clinton and flirting with Trump, but she later said in a deposition that those things hadn’t actually happened and were mistakes by the reporter. Clinton has previously said through a spokesperson that while he traveled on Epstein’s jet, he never visited his homes and had no knowledge of his crimes.

Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so. That history was invoked by Trump in 2022, between his first and second terms, when he faced a subpoena by the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.

By EDITH M. LEDERER and MARK BANCHEREAU

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States accused Rwanda on Friday of violating a U.S.-brokered peace agreement by backing a deadly new rebel offensive in the mineral-rich eastern Congo, and warned that the Trump administration will take action against “spoilers” of the deal.

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The remarks by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz came as more than 400 civilians have been killed since the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels escalated their offensive in eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, according to regional officials who also say that Rwandan special forces were in the strategic city of Uvira.

Waltz told the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. is “profoundly concerned and incredibly disappointed with the renewed outbreak of violence” by M23.

“Rwanda is leading the region towards increased instability and war,” Waltz warned. “We will use the tools at our disposal to hold to account spoilers to peace.”

He called on Rwanda to respect Congo’s right to defend its territory and invite friendly forces from neighboring Burundi to fight alongside Congolese forces. He also said the U.S. is engaging with all sides “to urge restraint and to avoid further escalation.”

M23’s latest push

The rebels’ latest offensive comes despite a U.S.-mediated peace agreement signed last week by the Congolese and Rwandan presidents in Washington.

The accord didn’t include the rebel group, which is negotiating separately with Congo and agreed earlier this year to a ceasefire that both sides accuse the other of violating. However, it obliges Rwanda to halt support for armed groups like M23 and work to end hostilities.

The rebels’ advance pushed the conflict to the doorstep of neighboring Burundi, which has maintained troops in eastern Congo for years, heightening fears of a broader regional spillover.

Congo’s ministry of communication confirmed in a statement Friday that M23 has seized the strategic port city of Uvira in eastern Congo, on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika and directly across from Burundi’s largest city, Bujumbura.

Uvira was Congo’s government’s last major foothold in South Kivu after the provincial capital of Bukavu fell to the rebels in February. Its capture allows the rebels to consolidate a broad corridor of influence across the east.

M23 said it had taken control of Uvira on Wednesday afternoon, following a rapid offensive since the start of the month. Along with the more than 400 killed, about 200,000 have been displaced, regional officials say.

Concerns over an escalation

Civilians fleeing eastern Congo have also crossed into Burundi, and there have been reports of shells falling in the town of Rugombo, on the Burundian side of the border, raising concerns about the conflict spilling over into Burundian territory.

More than 100 armed groups are vying for a foothold in mineral-rich eastern Congo, near the border with Rwanda, most prominently M23. The conflict has created one of the world’s most significant humanitarian crises, with more than 7 million people displaced, according to the U.N. agency for refugees.

Congo, the U.S. and U.N. experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the U.N.

Waltz said Rwandan forces have provided “logistics and training support to M23” and are fighting alongside the rebels in eastern Congo, with “roughly 5,000 to 7,000 troops as of early December.”

Congo calls for more pressure on Rwanda

Congo’s Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner accused Rwanda of trampling on the peace agreement, which she described as bringing “hope of a historic turning point.”

FILE – Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner attends a signing ceremony for a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the State Departmentin Washington, June 27, 2025. (AP Pho to/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

She warned, however, that the “entire process … is at stake,” and urged the Security Council to impose sanctions against military and political leaders responsible for the attacks, ban mineral exports from Rwanda and prohibit it from contributing troops to U.N. peacekeeping missions.

“Rwanda continues to benefit, especially financially but also in terms of reputation, from its status as a troop-contributing country to peacekeeping missions,” Wagner told The Associated Press.

Rwanda currently is one of the largest contributors of U.N. peacekeepers, with nearly 6,000 Rwandan troops.

Wagner also said economic agreements signed with the Trump administration as part of the peace deal will hinge on stability. “We have told our American partners that we cannot envision any path toward shared economic prosperity without peace,” she told the AP.

Eastern Congo, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cell phones and more.

Wagner said the economic partnership is still at an early stage.

“Everything will start to take shape and become much more tangible once the joint governance mechanisms are put in place,” she said. “What we want is a win-win partnership … far beyond the single issue of minerals and their transfer,” she added.

Rwanda accuses Congo of ceasefire violations

Rwanda’s Ambassador to the U.N. Karoli Martin Ngoga accused Congo of repeatedly breaking the ceasefire. He also accused the Congolese government of supporting the mostly Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which “threatens the very existence of Rwanda and its people.”

Nearly 2 million Hutus from Rwanda fled to Congo after the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed 800,000 Tutsi, moderate Hutus and others. Rwandan authorities have accused Hutus who fled of participating in the genocide, alleging that the Congolese army protected them.

“Rwanda reiterates its full commitment to implement its part of the agreement,” Ngoga told the Security Council.

While Rwanda denies the claim that it backs M23, it acknowledged last year that it has troops and missile systems in eastern Congo, allegedly to safeguard its security. U.N. experts estimate there are up to 4,000 Rwandan forces in Congo.

Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves Kamale in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.