Catching up with what’s happening in the world is a daily morning ritual for practically everyone. For me, it’s basically a time to have my morning coffee and scroll through my news feed.
Usually, it’s my Google Discover feed because it curates the perfect mix of tech updates, world news, and other interesting tidbits tuned to my personal taste. It’s a pretty straightforward process.
However, recently, Google has been testing a new product under its Search Labs experiment called Daily Listen. It might seem like another AI novelty that I would try once and forget about, but it has completely changed my morning news-reading habit.
What exactly is Daily Listen?
Turn your Discover feed into a personal podcast
Daily Listen takes your news feed from the Google Discover Feed, the stuff it already knows you care about, and turns it into a short, podcast-like briefing.
Think of it as a five-odd-minute AI-generated narration that feels like a completely personalized podcast designed for your interests.
If you’ve used NotebookLM before, you’ve seen this in action. Take a research paper or interesting article or two, and turn them into a fully narrated podcast explaining them to you.
Daily Listen is similar enough in function, but very different in scope. The biggest difference is that Daily Listen is entirely rooted in your own Discover Feed and search history.
Since the Discover Feed knows that I follow technology news closely, while also keeping an eye on world politics, with a dash of fashion and lifestyle thrown in, every morning it creates a tightly packed, highly personalized audio snapshot of the things that matter most to me.
Is Daily Listen any good?
Convenience is important when it comes to staying updated
At first, I dismissed it as a gimmick. I’m not the biggest fan of AI, and, as a fan of podcasts, I like the little inflections and human touch that come with an actual podcast.
Plus, there’s the fact that I can read faster than listening to a podcast. But there’s another factor that comes into play.
It might not sound as natural as an actual podcast, but Daily Listen frees up my hands to multitask, and that’s a big selling point for me.
I could be making breakfast, a cup of coffee, or catching up on morning chores while catching up on the latest about a certain fruity smartphone launch, a new pair of smart glasses from Meta, or an interesting science story.
It frees me up to stay up to date without scrolling, jumping between tabs, or distractions. I can tap it and leave my phone to the side. Just the essentials in a format that fits right into my morning routine.
This straightforward simplicity is what hooked me on Google’s Daily Listen. I understand that smartphones are central to how we consume data, but I don’t like the downsides they bring.
Being on the phone first thing in the morning, I invariably also dive into messages, Instagram Reels, Reddit posts, and more. Simply put, I end up wasting too much time.
Daily Listen helps me avoid that. I just tap it on and set my phone aside. Moreover, if I’m driving to a meeting, I don’t have to miss out on my morning news catch-up. Daily Listen fills me in on the details while I’m driving.
It’s not entirely perfect, though. For example, the execution can be a bit lacking. The AI narrator can stumble when pronouncing abbreviations or non-English names, which can take away from the actual conversation.
There’s also the risk of staying within the same genre of news. Daily Listen, like Google Discover, sticks to the familiar.
For example, if you like smartphones, most of your news will be smartphone-related. This can be useful for staying on top of specific news, but it doesn’t encourage discoverability of any kind.
Let’s just say, I wouldn’t call this the future of journalism and discovery.
Daily Listen might not be the future of news, but it’s a fresh take on it
Daily Listen certainly isn’t the next step in the evolution of the news, but it is an interesting take on the future of news delivery.
It’s crisp, concise, on-demand, and tailored to individual needs. Moreover, it transcends mediums.
When I want to read, I can catch up on my Google Discover feed. And when I need my hands free, it strips away the clutter of news feeds and puts the focus back on what matters most: keeping up with the news.
For now, Google Daily Listen is limited to being an experimental feature and is available only in the US and India. But I feel that after more people try it, they’ll find themselves reaching for it the same way as I did.
I feel it is one of those features that Google will inevitably bring into the fold as a standard search experience.
