# paper-podcast

> A local tool that turns any research paper into a fun two-host podcast — Ollama writes the script, a neural TTS speaks it, all on-device. Inspired by yacineMTB's scribepod.

every week i save a pile of research papers i swear i'll read. i never read them.

so i built a tool that reads them for me, out loud.

**paper-podcast** takes any paper — a pdf, a latex source, plain text — and turns it into a two-host podcast. one host explains the paper, the other asks the dumb questions i'm actually thinking. i drop in my favourite papers and out comes something fun to listen to over the weekend: on a walk, doing the dishes, wherever.

here's a sample the tool generated end to end, on the paper that started it all, *Attention Is All You Need*:

<audio
  controls
  preload="none"
  src="/audio/paper-podcast-attention.mp3"
  style={{ width: "100%", marginTop: "1rem" }}
/>

  ~3 min, generated locally with the tool's preset ai voices.

it's heavily inspired by [yacineMTB (kache)](https://x.com/yacineMTB) and his original scribepod, which had the same lovely idea: stop reading, start listening. his version had drifted and lost its voice step, so i rebuilt it end to end.

## the part i like

the whole thing runs locally on my mac. no api keys, no cloud, no cost.

- a local llm ([Ollama](https://ollama.com)) pulls the key facts and writes the script
- a local neural tts speaks it, with a distinct voice per host
- if i want, it can clone a specific voice from a short clip, so two of my favourite thinkers can "host" the episode

## how it flows

paper → key facts → a natural back-and-forth dialogue → speech → an mp3 i can play anywhere.

there are two voice engines: a fast preset one for quick listens, and a cloning one for when i want a particular voice. nothing about the paper or the audio ever leaves the machine.

it's open source: [github.com/akshatgoel07/paper-podcast](https://github.com/akshatgoel07/paper-podcast).

weekend reading, minus the reading.

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Source: https://www.akshatgoel.com/notes/paper-podcast