Chrome for Android now turns those long articles into mini-podcasts
A new feature creates podcast-style audio summaries of articles, making it quicker and more convenient to consume web content.
Chrome for Android is rolling out a new AI trick that summarizes articles for you. Instead of just reading the text, it creates a mini-podcast to give you the highlights.
This feature makes information far more accessible. Instead of spending ten minutes reading an article, you can get the gist in a minute or two while you're doing something else. It's a fantastic tool for multitasking, for users with visual impairments, or for anyone who just prefers listening to reading.
This isn't a brand-new concept for Google, but its inclusion in Chrome is the important part. The Audio Overviews feature was borrowed from the company's NotebookLM and Gemini apps. Bringing it to Chrome, arguably Google's most important piece of software, puts this useful AI capability in front of a massive audience, turning any webpage into a quick, digestible audio brief.
From my perspective, this is a genuinely useful application of AI. It's a practical tool that solves a common problem: having too much to read and not enough time. The podcast-style conversation is a nice touch that makes the summary feel less robotic and more engaging than a standard text-to-speech voice.
I'd absolutely use this. It seems perfect for catching up on tech news during a commute or while making coffee. It's clearly designed for anyone who consumes a lot of written content online, from students to professionals. While other apps offer article-reading features, Google's AI-powered summary approach feels like a smart step forward, making content consumption faster and more convenient. I'm interested to see how the AI handles complex topics, but for everyday news and articles, this looks like a winner.
Your web articles can now be podcasts
Google is upgrading the "Listen to this page" feature in Chrome for Android with a clever AI enhancement. This feature was spotted and found to generate an "Audio Overview" of a webpage. This isn't just a simple text-to-speech function; it creates a short, conversational podcast between two AI voices that summarizes the key points of the content.
The whole idea is to make catching up on long articles a much faster and more engaging experience. The feature is appearing now for users on the stable version of Chrome for Android (version 140.0.7339.124). This was first discovered since its early days in Chrome Canary, so its arrival in the main app is a welcome sight.
How to use Audio Overviews:
- Open an article in the Chrome for Android app.
- Tap the three-dot menu icon in the top-right corner.
- Select "Listen to this page".
- In the playback controls, tap the new button to toggle the AI-powered Audio Overview.
Why this feature matters
NotebookLM's audio overviews as podcasts is one of its most popular features
How useful is it
From my perspective, this is a genuinely useful application of AI. It's a practical tool that solves a common problem: having too much to read and not enough time. The podcast-style conversation is a nice touch that makes the summary feel less robotic and more engaging than a standard text-to-speech voice.
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