AI-Generated Presenter Interviews Dead Poet On Radio

A Polish radio station’s controversial experiment with AI-generated presenters has stirred a national debate over ethics and job security in broadcasting, as reported today by The New York Times.

Off Radio Krakow, part of Poland’s state-funded Radio Krakow, tried to boost its shrinking audience by replacing hosts with AI avatars, including an “interview” with deceased Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska. The AI-generated conversation sparked immediate backlash, prompting the station to end the project, as noted by The Times.

The backlash began when former Off Radio Krakow host Lukasz Zaleski, whose cultural talk show was canceled earlier in the year, criticized the use of an AI simulation of Szymborska. Zaleski noted that while the digital recreation of Szymborska’s voice was “convincing,” the ethical implications were deeply troubling, reported The Times.

Off Radio Krakow’s AI experiment was part of a broader strategy by Mariusz Marcin Pulit, the head of Radio Krakow, to boost audience numbers for its niche youth-oriented channels. Pulit’s goal was to attract a younger audience to Off Radio Krakow by introducing AI presenters with Gen Z biographies, said The Times.

The station’s viewership did spike temporarily, increasing from nearly zero to around 8,000 after the AI hosts’ debut. However, public outrage soon overshadowed this achievement, as noted by The Times.

For example, one of the AI presenters removed from Off Radio Krakow was Alex Szulc, a fictional non-binary character portrayed as a progressive with “social commitment.” Following criticism from LGBTQ activists who argued that representation requires real voices, as reported by The Times.

An online petition by Zaleski argued that the introduction of AI presenters represents a broader threat to the livelihoods of seasoned journalists and media professionals, opening the door to a world where machines replace experienced humans in creative roles, as reported by The Times.

Pulit defended the project, stating that his aim was not to replace people but to create a conversation about AI’s role in media. He insisted that AI would merely “enhance” content and engage younger listeners, as noted by The Times.

The experiment has also drawn scrutiny from the National Radio and Television Council of Poland. Marzena Paczuska, a council member, criticized Pulit, accusing him of compromising journalistic integrity.

Marzena claimed that this experiment “eliminating the human factor” and forcing media to obey “unethical commands and ideas serving, for example, strictly political interests,” as reported by The Times.