Everything We Hear: Towards Tackling Misinformation in Podcasts

TL;DR

This paper explores using real-time auditory alerts in podcasts to combat misinformation, aiming to inform listeners without disrupting their experience, inspired by alert systems in other domains.

Contribution

It proposes a novel approach of integrating auditory alerts into podcasts to detect and notify about misinformation in real-time.

Findings

Identifies opportunities for auditory misinformation alerts in podcasts.

Discusses challenges in implementing real-time alerts.

Proposes a framework for future research in this area.

Abstract

Advances in generative AI, the proliferation of large multimodal models (LMMs), and democratized open access to these technologies have direct implications for the production and diffusion of misinformation. In this prequel, we address tackling misinformation in the unique and increasingly popular context of podcasts. The rise of podcasts as a popular medium for disseminating information across diverse topics necessitates a proactive strategy to combat the spread of misinformation. Inspired by the proven effectiveness of \textit{auditory alerts} in contexts like collision alerts for drivers and error pings in mobile phones, our work envisions the application of auditory alerts as an effective tool to tackle misinformation in podcasts. We propose the integration of suitable auditory alerts to notify listeners of potential misinformation within the podcasts they are listening to, in real-time and without hampering listening experiences. We identify several opportunities and challenges in this path and aim to provoke novel conversations around instruments, methods, and measures to tackle misinformation in podcasts.