I think I'm around A2 in Japanese and find myself kinda scared by all these talking apps. I don't mind texting, because it gives me time to look up what I don't know and much more time to think about my response, but talking just makes me feel very anxious. Eventually I have to get over the barrier, but it is a barrier to entry and could scare people away.

I do think immersion is generally better, but it is not only harder, an AI app doesn't seem like it could do the right kind of immersion (missing body language, visual cues, seeing the mouth movements, and all sorts of other things one gets from watching a podcast, or even better, in person interaction).