For me it would be when I’m driving or working out. But I can’t imagine listening to an AI generated podcast. I do listen to the Stratechery podcast that is the same as the email.
But he also not only reads it himself, he has someone else narrate quotes and he uses chapter art that goes along with the article.
To some degree, you could make the same argument about written books and audio books. Mostly I listen to audiobooks because I’m often bored in the car and learning something seems like a good use of my time.
An audio book is usually read by an actor, or the author, and often has a performative quality to it. I'm honestly not interested in anything read by a machine unless it's absolutely indistinguishable from a professional person, and current machine-voice-synthesis (AI or not) isn't there.
But he also not only reads it himself, he has someone else narrate quotes and he uses chapter art that goes along with the article.