Radio station uses AI to interview the ghost of a dead Nobel-winner with 3 quirky zoomers who don't exist, seems baffled people don't like it
Ask yourself this: What could be dodgier than a radio station giving its human hosts the boot and replacing them with a cohort of three alarmingly photogenic Gen-Z AIs? If you answered 'having those three zoomer AIs interview another AI, this one imitating a Nobel prize-winning writer who died 12 years ago,' then congratulations, you may have a future ahead of you at Polish station Radio Kraków, which is in hot water for doing just that (via Onet.pl).
On Monday, Radio Kraków announced that it was overhauling its OFF station. Since 2015, the station had broadcast (all following quotes are machine-translated) «a playlist as well as original music programmes and a two-hour morning programme, in which the most time was devoted to cultural and social events in Kraków with the participation of Kraków artists and people associated with the Kraków club scene.»
But it's 2024 and, apparently, that doesn't bring in the ears these days. In its place, declared the station, listeners would henceforth hear «the AI-created voices of three hosts—model representatives of Generation Z.»
These would be 20-year-old Emilia Nowa, «a journalism student [and] pop culture expert,» who is «passionately following the latest trends in the world of cinema, music and fashion»; 22-year-old Jakub Zieliński, who's studying Acoustic Engineering at AGH (a Kraków university); and rounding out the three was 23-year-old Alex, a former psychology student who is «socially engaged, passionately discussing topics related to identity [and] queer culture.»
Except none of those people, their degrees, their disturbingly captivating AI-made portraits, or their interests were actually real, of course, because they were all robots.
The reaction from listeners was immediate and acrid. On the Facebook post announcing OFF radio's new direction, former fans left comments like «I wish you exactly the same—exclusively AI as listeners,» and «It seems that the easiest person to replace is the manager who came up with it.»
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