OFF Radio Kraków completed its pilot project using artificial intelligence (AI) one week after launch, with a planned duration of three months. This is reported by the Onet.pl portal.
Since October 22, the radio has broadcast programs created almost entirely by AI, broadcast by the generated hosts Amy, Cuba and Alex. A couple of weeks before the launch of the project, the actual presenters and editors were fired, in total about 12 people. The management of the radio station explained that the reason for the dismissals was not AI, but rather low audience interest.
The experiment was received controversially by the public and a former radio station employee. Mateusz Demski He created a petition against the replacement of people with neuroscientists, which was signed by more than 15 thousand people. According to Demski, public media, whose mission is the trustworthiness and trustworthiness of information, must be careful when using AI. There were also critical opinions from listeners who considered the experiment a “bad joke” and a “waste of time.”
The main avalanche of criticism hit the radio station after the broadcast of an interview with a “non-existent journalist” with the voice generated by a neural network of the Nobel Prize winner in Literature, a poet who died in 2012. Wislawa Szymborska. Criticism was not only expressed by former employees of the station, but also by politicians and the programming board of Radio Krakow. The audit is carried out by the Personal Data Protection Office and the Ministry of Culture.
After the experiment, editor-in-chief of OFF Radio Kraków Marcin Pulit He stated that the station would not stop broadcasting, but would return to a “predominantly musical programming formula.”
“From the beginning, this project was conceived as a voice in the debate about the opportunities and threats associated with the development of artificial intelligence. The mission of public radio is to look closely at changing realities, ask questions and provoke debate about the challenges of civilization. This was the purpose of the radio experiment, which was part of a conversation called “Artificial Intelligence. What does it give us, what does it take from us? And it was crowned with success.” – said the editor-in-chief.
He added that the experiment was planned for three months, but in just one week it was possible to collect so many opinions, observations and conclusions that its continuation was useless.
He reacted sharply to criticism of the project.
“We wanted to start a substantive debate about the opportunities and threats associated with the development of artificial intelligence. This objective has been achieved.” – Pulic explained.
“In the coming years Poland will have to develop legal norms regulating the use of artificial intelligence. “Our experiment showed how many issues require regulation and our experience in radio can be used when working on legislation.” – he concluded.
