"The End of Oak Street"’s AI-Generated Dog Podcast

Including a special cameo from some old friends

Author

Steve
August 11, 2026

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The End of Oak Street’s AI-Generated Dog Podcast

I found real value in Wired’s interview with Puck’s Matthew Belloni, a conversation on AI in Hollywood that has actual specifics and information:

Well, there's two types of AI, as you know. There's generative AI, which is content creation and things like that, and then there's what I refer to as the corporate AI, like streamlining processes and better search results. Obviously, on the second one, everyone is using it.

Belloni goes on to describe some of the ways AI is implemented creatively, for instance even in some writing rooms:

I know, I've talked to screenwriters who use it to suggest scenarios or to give a description of the inside of a building where they want a scenario to play out, or things that to me seem like part of the process.

You may not know this, but the Writers Guild is actually OK with that. As long as there is a credited writer on every script and that this process doesn't impact jobs, they're OK with the use of this technology.

I like this interview because it contains actual information instead of the usual wishcasting and thought experiments. You should check out the whole thing!

Having read that piece, I was naturally deeply amused by this one from IndieWire: Who Thought Using a Podcast Hosted by AI Dogs to Promote ‘The End of Oak Street’ Was a Good Idea? Good question!

The two digital dog hosts, Goldie and Frenchie, welcomed onto their “show” Starbuck, who is the dog featured in “The End of Oak Street,” to ask about who was the best trained of his human co-stars, Ewan McGregor or Anne Hathaway, and what it was like being chased by dinosaurs on a tennis ball. The clip shows some behind the scenes footage of one of the real dog actors playing around on set, though Starbuck in the film is at times crafted from visual effects.

Instagram Reel

Time to send these AI-generated dogs and their owners to a kill shelter, stat! Frankly, “Let’s advertise our dinosaur movie with an AI-generated dog podcast” is pretty much what I would expect a studio marketing department to come up with. This is like an email my Aunt Joan would forward me! However, the best surprise in the article was this line:

Data from Inception Point AI suggests there are over 175,000 podcast episodes available on Spotify or Apple that are generated by artificial intelligence…

That’s right, my old friends at the Slopcast Factory get a passing mention here. IndieWire has it wrong, though: the data about AI-generated podcasts isn’t from Inception Point, Inception Point itself is the source of most of the AI-generated podcasts!

The bigger question is why Warner Bros. would need to team up with DogPack, which appears to be some sort of pet business-related social media site that extensively uses AI-generated imagery for its ads. How hard is it to get pictures of dogs???

Speaking of fake podcasts, check out Wired’s fantastic reporting on the illicit drug market that advertised via AI-generated podcasts on Spotify.

Here’s a round-up of cool and interesting links about Hollywood and technology:

How the streamers stack up financially. (link)

Christopher Nolan praises Obsession and Backrooms. (link)

Getting more use out of your old Kindle. (link)