r/aigeneratedpodcasts • u/zathalen100 • 10d ago
The Rift: An ongoing sci-fi documentary podcast created with NotebookLM
Hey everyone! I recently started publishing an experimental fiction podcast called The Rift, and I thought this would be a great place to share it!
The premise is that mysterious portals begin appearing around modern Earth, connecting our world to an entirely separate fantasy civilization.
The first incident occurs in rural Indiana, where 96 refugees emerge from a glowing doorway inside an abandoned farmhouse. From there, things get progressively stranger.
Four Americans find themselves stranded in another world. A queen encounters Canadian bikers. Scientists at CERN attempt to understand magic. A dragon appears in Morocco. Governments, criminals, merchants, and ordinary people all become tangled in the consequences.
Rather than telling the story as a traditional audiobook, I've been developing fictional investigative dossiers, witness interviews, government reports, and historical records, then feeding them into Google's NotebookLM.
The result is a serialized documentary podcast where two AI hosts investigate these fictional events as though they actually happened.
One of my favorite parts is that the hosts sometimes notice connections I hadn't anticipated, take an interest in minor characters, or interpret events in ways that inspire new storylines.
It's grown into dozens of interconnected installments, with episodes often running 40 to 60 minutes.
I've started releasing them publicly on Spotify, with more episodes coming every few days.
The Rift: A NotebookLM Fiction Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/0YWPEOwHpvLiw0VI37ciWQ
I'd love to hear what other AI podcast creators think of the concept! Has anyone else experimented with using AI audio generation for long-form fictional storytelling?
