Artificial intelligence (AI) has reshaped industries around the world – and podcasting is no exception. It’s already in many of the tools and platforms that podcasters currently use, and has quickly become a foundational element supporting the production of some of the world’s most popular shows. In 2026, the question isn’t about whether you should use AI tools for podcast production, but how you can use them.
Of course, accepting this comes with its own challenges. Aside from the plethora of tools which are available – some of which we’ll cover in this article – there are also ethical and practical concerns worth addressing and unpacking. AI tools can streamline a lot of the production process. But if you want an experienced team alongside you, reach out to us about our podcast production services.
Let’s explore a variety of AI tools that can be used at each step of your podcast’s production, but first, let’s address some concerns.
What are the concerns around using AI for podcast production?
There are undeniable benefits to the speed and efficiency of AI tools as part of your production workflow, especially for small teams, solo podcasters, and those just starting out. But if these tools are handling multiple parts of a podcast’s production, where’s the human touch?
Maybe there’s a fear that reliance on AI tools could interfere too much with the creative process and flatten those special, imperfect touches that make a podcast resonate with listeners. Or maybe there’s a hesitancy to use AI tools because there could be a steep learning curve.
Think of it this way: for centuries, every major technological shift has opened up new possibilities long before people fully understood its potential. The printing press, the camera, radio, television, and the personal computer all transformed how we create stories and share ideas. AI is part of that same forward momentum. It’s another tool that is expanding what’s possible for communication and creativity.
Because AI tools are just that – tools. The smart way to think about how to use them in 2026 is as a support system, not a complete replacement. Treat any output from AI tools as a draft, not a final version ready for publishing. Use these tools to support time and/or skill gaps in your team to help you plan and strategize while you focus on creative ideation and execution.
Experimenting with AI as part of your podcast production is a personal choice that must align with your process. Just because it feels like everyone else is using AI tools doesn’t mean you need to. Maintaining the editorial integrity of your podcast and protecting your voice as a podcaster should always be at the center of your show. And if you’d like some expert support with your podcast production efforts, schedule a free consultation with our team.
Now let’s take a look at the podcast production process and show you which AI tools we recommend at each step.
How can I use AI tools for podcast production?
We’re going to break down our recommendations for AI tools for podcast production into where they can be used in each step of the production process.
AI Tools for Pre-Production
Pre-production can be where the most pressing issues for a podcast can occur. We’ll look at how AI tools can be used for episode planning, scripting and outlining, and scheduling. The goal at this stage of production with AI tools is to utilize them as a research assistant or a project manager, helping take the logistical heavy lifting off of your plate so you’re at ease and ready to go once it’s time to record.
Episode Planning
Depending on the structure of your podcast, episode planning can be a daunting task. If you have a weekly interview podcast like Podcast Perspectives, for example, planning involves what you want to ask the guest and what insights you want listeners to gain. AI tools can supercharge your workflow and help you go from a vague idea to something more polished and ready for recording.
Here are some AI tools for podcast production that work well at this step:
- Perplexity: We chose Perplexity because of its strong focus on research with citations. It makes a great partner for brainstorming episode ideas or writing interview questions, but make sure that the output is reviewed by a human before you use it.
- NotebookLM: This tool from Google is a powerful research partner regardless of what type of podcast you have. With just a few simple prompts, NotebookLM draws from multiple sources using Google’s powerful search features, provides you with a chat feature to fine-tune its output, and it can generate infographics, mindmaps or an audio overview that you can use for further planning.
Anthropic Claude: Claude’s long context window means that you can provide it a lot of information at once for it to process. This is great for research because you can add audio files, transcripts, guest bios, and other material, and have the tool provide you with questions, outlines, show notes, and other information you can use to prepare for your podcast.
Scripting and Outlining
Not every podcast follows a script or an outline, but if you’re a narrative-driven show like our award-winning series Missing Pages, scripting and outlining are a crucial step to making sure each episode follows a structure that lends itself to a cohesive experience for the listener.
AI platforms can help work at this stage like a writing partner you can bounce ideas off of (and won’t get tired no matter how many times you talk to it).
Here are some AI tools for podcast production that can help:
- HyperWrite: This tool has a bunch of useful features that can help you write and refine scripts and outlines, and lets you pull in research from external resources. It has dozens of other features as well, such as a tone and style optimizer, language translation, and an SEO-friendly script writer for YouTube videos.
- Lex: If you’re working with multiple team members, Lex is an AI tool that will let you all write and edit scripts and outlines together without getting trapped in a web of document versions. With handy AI shortcuts and other built-in editing tools, Lex can be a great addition to a collaborative workflow.
- Sudowrite: While Sudowrite is mainly geared towards fiction writers, it can be a great tool to use for scripting if you have a fiction podcast. Sudowrite’s intuitive features can help you map plot points, develop character arcs, and will work with you to craft a brilliant script.
Scheduling
Between varied work schedules and time zone differences, finding time to record podcast episodes can weigh heavily on podcast teams. That’s where AI tools can help! Rather than going back and forth over emails to sync up schedules with co-hosts and guests, AI tools can be your own booking assistant, managing availability across multiple schedules.
Here are some AI tools for podcast production that can help you stay on track.
- Motion: This “executive assistant” tool combines AI scheduling with calendar prioritization. Motion not only finds time slots but helps batch and organize podcast-related tasks. It’s great for creators balancing multiple podcasts or projects, but it needs a lot of training to work fully independently. It also doesn’t read the content of your emails, so you will need to input information to make it function.
- Clockwise: If you’re trying to avoid chaos in your calendar, Clockwise is a great option. It uses AI to optimize meeting times based on everyone’s availability—perfect for producers, editors, and hosts. Clockwise is useful for larger production teams or podcast companies.
- Doodle: Try this scheduling platform next time you’re trying to coordinate 4+ schedules at once. You can offer multiple slots and your interviewees can select the times that suit them. Doodle is especially helpful for group recordings and panels, as it integrates with Zoom and Microsoft Teams.
AI Tools for Production
When we look at AI tools for production, their role shifts from assistant to real-time collaborator. Whether you’re producing an audio podcast, a video podcast, or both, AI tools at this stage can help actively monitor the recording environment, making adjustments, translations, transcriptions and other corrections in real time. Once recording ends, AI tools can even organize the media files locally or in the cloud, keeping assets in line for the rest of the team for post-production.
Recording
You may think that the recording process doesn’t need any AI input. While tools in this area are limited, there are some great transcription and recording AI tools that should be on your radar for your next interview.
Here are a few AI tools for podcast production that we think are worth checking out:
- Mic Check: Is this thing on? Adobe’s Mic Check, part of their free suite of Adobe Podcast tools, checks your surroundings for room echo and background noise and your microphone’s distance and gain to make sure you’re all set to record. This can be a useful resource for guests to use before recording to ensure you’re getting great audio.
- Granola: While this tool doesn’t record audio, it does capture audio directly from your device and generate clean, structured notes with summaries and highlights to make editing and creating show notes easier.
- Riverside.fm: This platform offers AI-enhanced local recordings in 4K video and studio-quality audio. Riverside also includes a feature called Magic Editor, which uses AI to highlight speakers, remove background noise, and remove filler words. Riverside works well for interview podcasts and remote guest recording.
- Otter.ai: Think of Otter as your secret weapon for the unprepared podcaster. It records a transcript of your Zoom call, providing action points and next steps in real time with their Live Notes feature. While it doesn’t record audio (make sure you’ve set your video call app to record), Otter will help you keep track of topics and organize your talking points when returning to haphazard Zoom recordings.
File Management
You’ve wrapped on recording and have your audio or video ready for the next step in production. AI tools at this phase can be your digital librarian, sorting and organizing assets and making sure they are searchable and ready for post-production. No more crazy file renaming or looking in multiple folders to find what you need!
Here are some AI tools for podcast production that will help keep those recording files in order:
- Dynbox: Whether you’re managing a slew of cloud and local files, need an automated file sorting system, or you just want to organize and find files using natural language queries to a chatbot, Dynbox has you covered. This powerful tool works in the background, editing, searching, cleaning, and organizing your files while still keeping you in control. It even integrates with existing cloud storage solutions like Google Drive to boost its effectiveness.
- Tagbox: This AI tool is specifically for creative asset management, which makes it perfect for podcast teams. Like the name suggestions, the tool automatically organizes your files using smart tags. It even has collaborative team features, deep image search and facial recognition for media, making it a really advanced tool for keeping your digital files organized.
AI Tools for Post-Production
Now you’ve finished recording and your files are all tagged and organized. Now it’s time for post-production. At this stage, the AI tools at your disposal are working like a member of your editing team, helping with mixing and mastering your raw files into a polished episode ready for the world to see and hear.
Editing, Mixing and Mastering
The post-production process can be bare bones or complex – it depends on your skills, resources and goals. If you’re short on time or new to podcasting, AI tools for editing, mixing, and mastering can troubleshoot and correct recording mistakes in just a few minutes. Make sure to re-listen or re-watch your episode after using an AI tool, as removing “ums” and pauses can disrupt the flow of a speaking voice and make the episode sound or look jerky and unnatural.
Here are a few tried and true AI tools for podcast production that we recommend:
- Adobe Podcast: This tool uses AI to clean up low-quality recordings and add studio-like enhancements with one click. Adobe Podcast includes a transcript-based editor, similar to Descript. It’s great for DIY podcasters who want pro-level sound without the studio.
- Adobe Premiere: Adobe Premiere is the gold standard when it comes to video editing. Along with Adobe’s Sensei AI, there are also a number of plugins that can be used to edit video for multicam video podcasts, fix exposure and color balance issues, and create a professional flow between speakers.
- DaVinci Resolve: This platform combines editing, color correction, visual effects, motion graphics, and audio post production all in one tool. Known as Hollywood’s #1 post-production solution, this tool is powerful enough to handle any editing issues you need.
- Descript: This is a must-have for creators who want recording, editing, and publishing in one tool. Descript also transcribes as it records, letting you edit your audio directly from the transcript like a Word document.
- Auphonic: A long-time favorite in the podcasting world, Auphonic uses AI to auto-level audio, reduce noise, and even generate metadata. If you need support with batch processing episodes with consistent sound quality, try Auphonic.
- Podcastle.ai: This tool offers everything from recording to AI voice cloning and automatic re-voice edits. It also has a text-to-speech narration feature, and the tool is best for podcasters who want to experiment with synthetic voices or multilingual episodes.
- Cleanvoice AI: This tool removes filler words, stutters, mouth sounds, and other audio distractions automatically. Upload your audio and let the AI clean it. This tool is best for podcasters focused on tight, professional-quality audio.
- Opus Clip: Opus Clip uses AI to chop long-form video podcasts into short, viral clips. It can auto-detect the most engaging moments from a video and format the clips as social-ready assets.
- Veed.io: This platform is an all-in-one video editor that uses AI for subtitles, translations, and scene detection. It includes templates built for video podcasters and works well for beginners with its drag-and-drop file processing.
- Pictory: Pictory converts long audio/video content into short highlight reels using AI. It’s great for branded storytelling, repackaging webinars as podcasts, and for B2B shows or narrative-driven video podcasts.
- Riverside.fm: We mentioned Riverside.fm when it comes to recording, but it also includes an AI transcription feature for speedy editing, an AI speaker view to automatically reframe video, and it can generate clips for sharing across social media.
- Podsqueeze: This platform is designed for podcasters and production teams looking to streamline post-production workflows by using AI to automatically generate transcripts, summaries, show notes, SEO-optimized blog posts, and short video clips from podcast episodes. It’s especially useful for producers managing multiple shows or agencies repurposing content at scale, reducing hours of manual editing and copywriting after each recording.
Conclusion
2026 is here, and with many of the tools that we use already offering some kind of AI-powered features, it’s up to podcasters and their teams to determine how they utilize them in their workflow. Our suggestions showed how AI tools can be used at every step of the podcast production process, allowing you to create your own stack of tools to use which make the most sense for your podcast.
Don’t forget to read our summary of our favorite AI tools for podcast marketing, a guide that helps you use cutting-edge software to maximize your podcast growth. It includes our suggestions for transcript generation, alongside speedy tools to help with content repurposing.
Have questions? Interested in working with The Podglomerate to produce your podcast? Email us to learn more about our services.
