How to Start a Podcast with AI in 2026 (No Experience Needed)

Starting a podcast used to require hundreds of dollars in equipment, audio editing skills, and hours of production time per episode. AI has eliminated every one of those barriers. Today, anyone with a topic and 10 minutes can create a professional podcast episode — no microphone, no editing software, no experience needed.

This guide walks you through the entire process, from choosing your first topic to publishing a finished episode.

What Are the Traditional Barriers to Podcasting?

Before AI, launching a podcast meant solving several problems at once:

• Equipment — A quality microphone ($100-$300), headphones, pop filter, and potentially acoustic treatment for your recording space.
• Software — Audio editing tools like Audacity or Adobe Audition, plus the skills to use them effectively.
• Time — Research, scripting, recording, editing, and mixing a single episode takes 4-8 hours for most creators.
• Voice talent — Not everyone is comfortable speaking into a microphone, and hiring narrators is expensive.
• Consistency — Publishing on a regular schedule requires repeating this entire process week after week.

These barriers kept podcasting out of reach for most people. AI changes that equation entirely.

What You Need: Traditional vs AI Podcasting

For a full cost breakdown between traditional and AI production, see our AI podcast vs traditional cost analysis.

How Does AI Podcast Creation Work?

AI podcast platforms handle the entire production pipeline — from research to finished audio — in about 10 minutes. Here is what happens behind the scenes:

1. Research — The AI searches the web for current information on your topic, gathering facts, data, and context.
2. Outline generation — It structures that research into a logical podcast outline with segments and talking points.
3. Your review — You see the outline before anything else happens. Edit it, rearrange sections, add your own points, or request changes.
4. Script writing — Once you approve the outline, a language model writes a natural, conversational script.
5. Audio synthesis — Text-to-speech technology narrates the script with realistic voices, complete with natural pacing and emphasis.

The result is a polished episode that sounds like two hosts had a genuine conversation about your topic. For a deeper look at the technology behind this process, see the complete AI podcast generation guide.

How Do You Create Your First Episode on DIALØGUE?

Here is the step-by-step process for creating your first AI podcast episode.

Step 1: Choose Your Topic

Start specific. A focused topic produces better research and a more engaging episode. Instead of "health and fitness," try "how intermittent fasting affects mental clarity" or "beginner strength training mistakes to avoid."

You can enter a topic as text, or upload a PDF document if you want the episode based on specific source material like a research paper or report.

Step 2: Select a Template

DIALØGUE offers 8 podcast templates, each designed for a different content style:

• Tech News — Current events and industry updates with a news-desk format
• Business Analysis — Deep dives into companies, markets, and trends
• Educational — Clear, structured explanations of complex topics
• Storytelling — Narrative-driven episodes with dramatic pacing
• Company Analysis — Focused breakdowns of specific organizations
• Research Review — Academic and scientific content made accessible
• Interview — Simulated Q&A format for expert-style content
• Casual Chat — Relaxed, conversational discussions

For your first episode, Educational or Casual Chat are safe choices. They produce approachable content that works across a wide range of topics.

Step 3: Customize Your Hosts

This is where your podcast gets its personality. You can configure two AI hosts with:

• Name and role — Give each host a name and define their role (host, co-host, expert, interviewer)
• Personality traits — Curious, analytical, enthusiastic, skeptical — these shape how the host reacts to information
• Speaking style — Formal, conversational, humorous, or direct
• Tone sliders — Adjust formality, humor, and energy levels to dial in exactly the feel you want

For more on creating distinctive host personalities, see the voice customization guide.

Step 4: Pick Your Voices

Choose from 30 TTS voices, each with different characteristics — warm, authoritative, casual, energetic. Listen to previews and match voices to your host personalities. A tech news podcast might use a crisp, professional voice, while a casual chat works better with a warm, relaxed one.

Step 5: Review the Outline

This is the most important step. After the AI researches your topic, it presents a structured outline for your review. This is your chance to:

• Remove sections that feel off-topic
• Add specific points you want covered
• Rearrange the flow of the conversation
• Provide feedback to reshape the direction entirely

No credits are spent until you approve the outline. Take your time here — a strong outline leads to a much better final episode.

Step 6: Generate and Download

Once you approve the outline, the AI writes the full script and synthesizes the audio. In a few minutes, your episode is ready to download and publish on any podcast platform.

Ready to try it? Create your first episode on DIALØGUE — it takes about 10 minutes and you get 2 free credits to start.

What Should You Know Before Your First Episode?

Pick a Niche, Not a Category

The most successful podcasts — AI-generated or otherwise — focus on a specific niche. "Technology" is a category. "How AI is changing small business marketing" is a niche. Narrow topics attract dedicated listeners and produce more focused, useful episodes.

Use the Outline Stage Wisely

The interactive outline is your editorial control. Think of it like directing a conversation. If the AI's research missed something important, add it. If a section feels redundant, cut it. The more intentional you are at this stage, the better your episode will sound.

Experiment with Templates and Voices

Your first episode will not be your best — and that is fine. Try different templates to see which format suits your content. Swap voices between episodes. Adjust the tone sliders. The advantage of AI production is that experimentation costs minutes, not hours.

How Do You Plan Your First 5 Episodes?

Building a podcast is about consistency. Here is a practical plan for your first five episodes:

1. Episode 1: Your core topic — The subject you know best. This builds your confidence with the platform and produces your strongest content.
2. Episode 2: A related subtopic — Go deeper on one aspect of your main theme. This tests whether your niche has enough depth for a series.
3. Episode 3: A trending angle — Connect your niche to something currently in the news. Timely content attracts new listeners.
4. Episode 4: A different template — Try a new format. If you started with Educational, try Casual Chat. Different templates reveal different strengths in your content.
5. Episode 5: A listener question or common misconception — Address what your audience is actually curious about. This builds engagement and shows you are listening.

After five episodes, you will have a clear sense of what works for your content and your audience.

What About Recurring Shows?

Once you have found your rhythm, DIALØGUE's Studio feature lets you create automated recurring shows. Set up a show with your preferred template, hosts, and schedule, and the platform suggests trending topics and generates episodes on a daily or weekly cadence. This is how you go from a one-off experiment to a consistent publishing schedule.

Recurring shows also support an SEO content strategy — each episode adds fresh, indexable content to your site.

Can You Podcast in Multiple Languages?

Yes. DIALØGUE supports 7 languages: English, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Chinese, and French. You select the language during episode creation, and the entire pipeline — research, script, and audio — runs in that language natively. This is not translation; the AI thinks and writes in your chosen language from the start.

This is particularly valuable for educational podcasts reaching international audiences.

What Does It Cost to Get Started?

DIALØGUE uses a credit-based model with no subscriptions:

• 2 free credits when you sign up — enough to test the platform with two full episodes
• $4.99 for 4 episodes
• $9.99 for 9 episodes
• $19.99 for 18 episodes

Compare that to traditional podcasting, where a basic setup runs $200-$500 in equipment alone, plus ongoing costs for hosting, editing software, and your own time.

Starting a podcast has never been more accessible. You do not need a studio, a producer, or even a plan beyond "I have something to say." Start your first episode on DIALØGUE and see how it sounds — your first two episodes are free.