Turn a podcast episode into an emailed digest

Paste in an episode's transcript or show notes, name the episode, and run it. The AI writes a summary of what the episode actually argued and the examples it rested on, works out which people, organisations, places and topics it mentioned, and looks each of those up in Wikipedia. The summary and the background are emailed to you as one digest.

You get an email under the episode title, the summary in short plain paragraphs, and beneath it a background section quoting Wikipedia's own opening paragraph for each name with a link, so nothing there is invented. A name with no entry is quietly left out rather than shown as a gap, and if the lookups fail altogether the digest still goes out with the summary alone. Long transcripts are trimmed before they reach the AI, and the number of names looked up per run is capped.

It needs the words of the episode, not the audio: nothing here transcribes a recording, so copy the transcript or show notes from wherever the podcast publishes them.

Set episodeTitle to blank.Set episodeTitle to blank.

Set episodeNotes to blank.Set episodeNotes to blank.

Set recipientEmail to blank.Set recipientEmail to blank.

Set maxTranscriptCharacters to 16000.Set maxTranscriptCharacters to 16000.

Set maxBackgroundLookups to 8.Set maxBackgroundLookups to 8.

Shorten episodeNotes to maxTranscriptCharacters characters and save it as episodeText.Shorten episodeNotes to maxTranscriptCharacters characters and save it as episodeText.

Set summaryPrompt to You are writing the summary section of a digest about one podcast episode, for someone who has not listened to it.Set summaryPrompt to You are writing the summary section of a digest about one podcast episode, for someone who has not listened to it. Cover what the episode actually argued, the evidence or examples it rested on, and anything a listener would want to act on afterwards. Use short paragraphs and plain sentences, and no more than 250 words. Use only what the text below says - do not add background, figures or conclusions that are not in it. Reply with the summary and nothing else. Episode: episodeTitle Transcript or show notes: episodeText.

OpenAIAsk OpenAI: summaryPrompt. Save it as summaryReply.Ask OpenAI: summaryPrompt. Save it as summaryReply.

Trim summaryReply.response_text and save it as summary.Trim summaryReply.response_text and save it as summary.

If summary is emptyIf summary is empty

Yes

Stop and report a problem: The model came back with an empty summary, so there is nothing worth sending. Check that the 'episodeNotes' step really holds the episode's transcript or show notes and not just a title or a link.Stop and report a problem: The model came back with an empty summary, so there is nothing worth sending. Check that the 'episodeNotes' step really holds the episode's transcript or show notes and not just a title or a link.

No

No steps

Set topicPrompt to List the people, organisations, places and named topics that the podcast episode below refers to and that a reader might not already know.Set topicPrompt to List the people, organisations, places and named topics that the podcast episode below refers to and that a reader might not already know. Give the exact name each one is best known by, because every name is looked up in an encyclopaedia exactly as written. One name per line, with no bullets, no numbering, no explanation and nothing else. Leave out the host, the show itself, and anything too general to have an encyclopaedia entry. If there is nothing worth looking up, reply with the single word none. Episode: episodeTitle Transcript or show notes: episodeText.

Set topicText to blank.Set topicText to blank.

If a step below fails, save the error as topicErrorIf a step below fails, save the error as topicError

Try

OpenAIAsk OpenAI: topicPrompt. Save it as topicReply.Ask OpenAI: topicPrompt. Save it as topicReply.

Trim topicReply.response_text and save it as topicText.Trim topicReply.response_text and save it as topicText.

On error

Show in the output: Could not work out what the episode mentioned, so the digest goes out without background: topicError as text.Show in the output: Could not work out what the episode mentioned, so the digest goes out without background: topicError as text.

Take the first maxBackgroundLookups items of topicText split by a new line and save it as topics.Take the first maxBackgroundLookups items of topicText split by a new line and save it as topics.

Set background to an empty list.Set background to an empty list.

For each line in topics:For each line in topics:

Trim line and save it as topic.Trim line and save it as topic.

If topic is emptyIf topic is empty

Yes

Skip to the next item.Skip to the next item.

No

No steps

If topic in lowercase is noneIf topic in lowercase is none

Yes

Skip to the next item.Skip to the next item.

No

No steps

Set referenceLink to blank.Set referenceLink to blank.

Set referenceText to blank.Set referenceText to blank.

If a step below fails, save the error as lookupErrorIf a step below fails, save the error as lookupError

Try

WikipediaGet the summary of topic. Save it as reference.Get the summary of topic. Save it as reference.

Trim reference.url and save it as referenceLink.Trim reference.url and save it as referenceLink.

Trim reference.extract and save it as referenceText.Trim reference.extract and save it as referenceText.

On error

Show in the output: No reference entry for topic, leaving it out of the digest: lookupError as text.Show in the output: No reference entry for topic, leaving it out of the digest: lookupError as text.

If referenceText isn't emptyIf referenceText isn't empty

Yes

Set entry to topicSet entry to topic referenceText.

If referenceLink isn't emptyIf referenceLink isn't empty

Yes

Change entry to entryChange entry to entry More: referenceLink.

No

No steps

Add entry to the end of background and save it as background.Add entry to the end of background and save it as background.

No

No steps

Set digest to episodeTitleSet digest to episodeTitle WHAT THE EPISODE COVERED summary.

If background isn't emptyIf background isn't empty

Yes

Change digest to digestChange digest to digest BACKGROUND ON WHAT IT MENTIONED background joined by a blank line.

No

No steps

Change digest to digestChange digest to digest --- Summarised from the transcript or show notes you supplied. Background comes from Wikipedia.

GmailSend an email to recipientEmail.Send an email to recipientEmail. Subject: Podcast digest: episodeTitledigest

Show in the output: Digest for episodeTitle sent to recipientEmail.Show in the output: Digest for episodeTitle sent to recipientEmail.