Facepalm: In another example of how most people don’t want AI to replace humans, a Polish radio station, no matter how much money management says it will save, We canceled an experiment to fire journalists and replace them with AI “presenters.” The test was scheduled to last three months, but the broadcaster decided to end it after just one week after receiving a huge backlash from the public.
On October 21, Radio Krakow announced that it will revamp its OFF station and introduce three AI-created voice hosts representing Generation Z. These avatars were Emilia Nowa, a 20-year-old journalism student and pop culture expert, and Emilia Nowa, a 22-year-old audio engineer. Student Jakub Zielinski and former psychology student Alex, 23, are “socially involved and enthusiastic about discussing topics related to identity.” [and] queer culture. ”
Reaction to the move was predictably harsh. Compounding the outrage, Radio Krakow’s human hosts are “external collaborators” whose contracts have not been renewed and are no longer on the station because “it’s not the fault of the AI.” That was the fact, argued editor-in-chief Marcin Puritt.
In a great PR move on the Amazon level, the radio decided that the first thing the AI should do was interview Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet and author Wisława Szymborska, who died in 2012. Of course, this was also a reproduction of AI. This will lead to further violence.
Mateusz Demski, a journalist and film critic who hosted a show on the station before the Gen Z robots arrived, has launched a petition calling for the experiment to be halted and for “employees to be replaced with artificial intelligence.” published an open letter strongly criticizing the More than 23,000 people signed the petition.
Puritt announced on Monday that the experiment with AI presenters is coming to an end. He argued that the aim was to spark a debate about artificial intelligence, and in that respect it was a success. This is an interesting way to change things up, especially since this experiment was scheduled to last three months.
“After a week, we had gathered so many observations, opinions, and conclusions that we decided it was pointless to continue,” Puritt wrote.
He admitted he was shocked by the level of anger at the AI presenter and the brutal resuscitation of the dead. He said the broadcaster was “surprised by the level of emotion surrounding this experiment due to the harsh judgments made based on our non-existent intentions and actions and false reporting.”
The timing of the cancellation was probably good. The radio station was planning an interview with Jozef Pilsudski, a Polish politician who died in 1935.
According to the company, KBFF (Live 95.5) introduced AI Ashley in June last year, making it the first radio station in the world to have an AI DJ. The presenter is a clone AI version of daytime host Ashley Elzinga, powered by Futuri Media’s RadioGPT. AI Ashley is still on the air and fills in for the real Ashley Z when she goes on vacation.
