An AI information app known as Particle, from former Twitter engineers, can now sustain with information breaking on podcasts in addition to information printed on the net.
Simply forward of its latest Android launch, Particle has launched a characteristic known as Podcast Clips, which finds essentially the most attention-grabbing and related moments throughout many several types of podcasts, after which consists of these clips alongside the associated information tales in its feed.
So as an alternative of listening to a prolonged podcast simply to catch the 45 seconds of attention-grabbing feedback, you possibly can play again the clip as you’re studying the information on Particle. You even have the choice of studying the transcript of the clip as an alternative, because the phrases are highlighted as they’re spoken.
“We’ve performed that mainly for any information story — if there’s a podcast that’s speaking about it, or related in any respect, we’ve bought all these clips,” Particle CEO Sara Beykpour, beforehand the Senior Director of Product Administration at Twitter, informed TechCrunch. “It’s a extremely cool approach, whenever you’re studying a narrative or studying a few story, to get a breath of what are folks saying about this? What’s the commentary?”
The addition acknowledges a shift within the information ecosystem that’s been underway for years. Not solely are extra folks getting their news from podcasts and trusting them as dependable sources, however the medium can also be becoming a destination for breaking information and main bulletins from public figures.
Tech CEOs, specifically, are actually looking for out pleasant podcast hosts to air their speaking factors as an alternative of attempting to work with conventional media, as Bloomberg reported in 2024.
That makes being attentive to podcasts much more vital if you wish to sustain with information.
Beykpour says Particle makes use of embedding models to grasp when podcasts relate to a given information story. These fashions are offered by the identical corporations that present LLM fashions, however they’re not generative AI applied sciences, she explains.
“We use vector embeddings to grasp that these completely different components of the podcasts are associated to those completely different tales,” Beykpour notes. “A single podcast may cowl 10 or 20 tales, so we use AI to grasp that. We additionally use AI to do a number of the logic round clipping, and understanding when to start out a clip and finish a clip.”
The corporate leverages expertise from ElevenLabs for transcription. Nevertheless, a number of the expertise that identifies the place precisely to clip the audio is a part of Particle’s secret sauce.
The concept to faucet into podcasts to raised perceive the commentary round information can also be one thing newsrooms are taking a better have a look at as of late. As Nieman Lab reported this month, The New York Occasions has been utilizing a customized AI instrument that employs LLMs to transcribe and summarize new episodes of dozens of right-wing and extra conservative podcasts to raised perceive what influencers on that aspect are saying concerning the information.
Particle’s Podcasts Clips characteristic isn’t solely tied to information tales. As a result of the app already understands completely different entities — like folks, locations or issues — you possibly can go to the web page for a notable determine, resembling OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, to see all of his appearances on podcasts organized as a feed.
Particle has been busy constructing different options, as nicely. The corporate has made its first try at monetization with Particle+, an non-obligatory $2.99/month subscription (or $29.99/yr) that allows you to entry premium options. These embody the flexibility to: use pure language to have the information summarized in a mode you favor; decide from completely different voices when utilizing the personalised audio feed; “Take heed to the Information”; limitless crossword puzzles; help for personal questions with its AI chatbot, and extra.
The Android launch additionally brings a few different notable modifications. The browse tab now consists of well timed tales, just like the 2026 Winter Olympics, along with typical sections like politics, tech, or leisure. Plus, whenever you faucet on an entity, you’ll see a brand new web page with the definition, tales, articles, associated entities, and associated subjects.
Particle isn’t sharing information about consumer exercise or conversion charges, however Beykpour did level to the app’s worldwide viewers, pre-Android. On a weekly foundation, 55% of Particle’s customers are outdoors the U.S., with India (15%) its greatest market after the U.S.
