20 years of Podcasting, Black Venus, AI Songwriting Challenge

Aindrea Emelife and black women in art. Nigerian-British curator on her Somerset House exhibition Black Venus, addressing colonial history and the representation of black women in art as subject and artist, and her new curatorial role at the Edo Museum of West African Art, opening in Nigeria from 2024. Earlier this year a viral song purporting to feature Drake and The Weeknd was removed from streaming services when it emerged that vocals on the track were not the artists, but were generated by Artificial Intelligence. Songwriters are increasingly concerned that AI could put them out of business, but how worried should they be? The BBC’s Will Chalk is joined by two professional songwriters, Aaron Horn and Holly Henderson, to see who can write the most convincing pop hit – the humans or the machines. 20 years since the launch of the first ever podcast, we look back at the highlights of the medium’s explosive growth. Tom Sutcliffe is joined by podcast pioneer and host of The Allusionist, Helen Zaltzman, and by Dino Sofos, founder and CEO of audio production company Persephonica.