【AI前沿】Audio-generation app Huxe, founded by former NotebookLM developers, shuts down

Huxe, an app created by former NotebookLM developers that let users put in a prompt and generate a podcast or a podcast series about a topic, is shutting down. The announcement comes a day afterSpotify released a personal podcast featurethat works similarly.The company said that it is removing the app from App Store and Play Store, and if users already have the app installed, it will work for seven days. After that, the company will delete all data related to users. The startup didn’t specify the reason behind the shutdown.“We’ve made the decision to wind down Huxe. The team is moving on to new things, and we won’t be continuing development of the product,” according to an email sent to customers.The consumer AI market is highly competitive, as core products of startups often turn into commoditized features of large companies. Podcast creation for knowledge is on a similar trajectory. After NotebookLM popularized the feature, other big companies likeAdobe,Amazon,ElevenLabs, Meta, and now Spotify emulated the feature in a way. Google also releaseda separate feature to create podcasts based on your Discover feed.Huxe was started in late 2024 by former Google employees Raiza Martin, along with Jason Spielman and Stephen Hughes. The startup had raised $4.6 million in funding from Conviction, Genius Ventures, Figma CEO Dylan Field, and Google Research’s chief scientist Jeff Dean.Other startups,Anchor co-founders and former Spotify execs’ app Oboe, andSun, which is part of an a16z speedrun cohort, are attempting to build an audience for audio-focused learning.As AI models get better, they are able to convert one format to another, from text to audio, and audio to video. Companies that focus on only one kind of conversion modality for consumers might find it difficult to bring long-term usage and revenue to their apps.Because of AI, companies are shipping features fast and bringing their products to feature parity, which might affect some startups. In Huxe’s case, generating a podcast about a topic became a commoditized feature in many apps and services. This could have proved difficult to scale the service to millions of users and have them pay for the app.TopicsAI audio,Apps,conviction,Huxe,notebooklmWhen you purchase through links in our articles,we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.Ivan MehtaIvan covers global consumer tech developments at TechCrunch. He is based out of India and has previously worked at publications including Huffington Post and The Next Web.You can contact or verify outreach from Ivan by [email protected] via encrypted message at ivan.42 on Signal.View BioMay 27Athens, GreeceStrictlyVC Athens is up next. Hear unfiltered insights straight from Europe’s tech leaders and connect with the people shaping what’s ahead. Lock in your spot before it’s gone.REGISTER NOWMost PopularYou can no longer Google the word ‘disregard’Russell BrandomSix search engines worth trying now that Google isn’t really Google anymoreAmanda SilberlingJensen Huang says he’s found a ‘brand new’ $200B market for NvidiaJulie BortSam Altman makes ‘mic drop’ offer to every Y Combinator startupJulie BortIntuit to lay off over 3,000 employees to refocus on AIRam IyerGoogle Search as you know it is overSarah PerezElon Musk has lost his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAITim Fernholz