Apple Podcasts Is Adding AI-Generated Chapters for Podcasts Without Chapters (podcasters.apple.com)

Apple Podcasts is rolling out AI-generated episode chapters and timed links with iOS 26.2 to make podcasts easier to navigate and promote. For English shows that don’t supply chapters, Apple will automatically generate chapter markers (labeled “Automatically created”) so listeners can jump to sections; creators can still submit their own chapters (including images via hosting providers) or opt out in Apple Podcasts Connect. Timed links — which place tappable links to Apple Music, News, TV, Podcasts and more inline with transcripts and the player — will also be auto-created in a limited English beta when podcasters don’t provide links, with an opt-out option available. Technically this leverages speech-to-text, segmentation and entity-recognition/linking to align text, timestamps and external content, and builds on Apple’s auto-transcript feature introduced in iOS 17. For the AI/ML community this is notable as a production-scale deployment of audio segmentation, ASR, and mention-resolution, enhancing discoverability, accessibility and ad/promotional workflows while raising questions around accuracy, moderation, and metadata quality. The feature reduces creator friction, enables finer-grained analytics and cross-promotion, and highlights the practical trade-offs of automatic content enrichment (labeling, opt-outs, and language availability). Episode art and manual transcript options remain supported for creators who prefer full control.