the short version
the ai co-host now works on camera as well as on a podcast.
on the setup screen, pick video, then co-host on the kind row, then open the conversation. you talk, it listens, reacts and asks the next thing, and both voices end up in the episode, with your face on screen the whole way through.
it comes out of the same co-host minutes as a podcast. one balance, whichever you pick, and a call is thirty minutes at most.
why it was audio only
a video co-host existed in september, for about a day. then it was put away, and the co-host became a podcast thing only.
the reason was a good one. an underway episode is the founder speaking to the people watching. put a second voice on camera every day and the diary turns into a chat show, and a chat show with a bot is a worse thing than a diary.
that is still true. what was wrong was the every day.
why it is back
some days you have a lot to say and nobody to say it to. a list of questions, however good, waits for you to finish and then asks the next one. a conversation does something different: it reacts to the thing you just said, picks up the half sentence you left hanging, and pushes back when the answer was too neat.
on those days it gets a better episode out of you. and on camera, rather than as a podcast, the people watching see you think, which is most of what makes a build in public worth following.
so it is back, as one choice among the others, for some episodes. the guided interview is still the default, still the ritual, and still on every plan.
how to use it
- open the setup screen, on the web or on the phone.
- camera: video. kind: co-host.
- frame: portrait or landscape. the episode comes out in the frame you choose, like any other.
- under about, pick a thread if you want the co-host to open on it, or leave it and it asks what you want to talk about.
- open the conversation, pick the voice across the desk, and start.
- talk. interrupt it, wander, come back. finish and save when you are done.
the episode is one continuous take of you, with the co-host's voice in it. nothing is cut out of the middle and nothing is reordered. it gets its number, its name and its description like every other episode, and it sits in your vault until you publish it.
the minutes, and why they keep it occasional
every paid plan comes with co-host time each month: an hour on founder, three hours on series, four hours a seat on a company record. a podcast with the co-host and a camera conversation with it both come out of that one balance, by the second.
that is deliberate. there is no separate allowance for video, and no switch that makes every episode a conversation. three hours is plenty for a conversation now and then, and not enough to make it the habit, which is the point.
the account page shows what is left. when it runs out, co-host on video says so and its button stays off. the interview is still there, and so is just talk.
what it will not do
it will not put words in your mouth. the co-host asks; the answers are yours, and the transcript shows which voice said what.
it will not join a call with a guest. with a guest is still you hosting a real person, and the app asks nothing in it.
and it will not become the default. it never opens on co-host; every episode opens on interview, and the co-host is one tap away for the episodes that want it.
is the co-host on camera on every plan?
on every paid plan, from that plan's co-host minutes. the free episodes use the guided interview.
does a video conversation cost more minutes than a podcast?
no. a minute is a minute. both come out of the same balance.
how long can one conversation run?
thirty minutes at most. the screen warns you in the last minute and saves what was recorded when time runs out.
can i do it from the phone?
yes. pick video and co-host on the phone's setup screen and the conversation opens in the app.
will viewers know it is an ai?
yes. you hear a second voice, and posts to tiktok carry the ai-generated label, as every episode does.