So how good is this new RadioGPT AI? Can it really be as good as a human when it comes to being a radio announcer?

March 21, 2023 Alan Cross 0 Comments 1 min read

Artificial intelligence is all the buzz these days, including here in the radio biz. Take a look at how this guy in the UK is using AI at his station.

Here's how AI is freeing my time so I could spend the morning getting stories, talking to people face to face instead of sitting writing cues and copy. Treat it like a rubbish member of staff whose work you have to continually check, but they'll do chore stories.#CommunityRadio pic.twitter.com/JZjGcisin8
— Keri jones (@Kerijonesradio) March 16, 2023

And then there’s RadioGPT, an AI program being marketed by a company called Futuri to radio groups. The voice we hear is not from a human. It’s an AI who has scraped a bunch of information sources to create a lifelike announcer. The company says that they’re not trying to eliminate the DJ; they just want to help smaller market radio stations provide a voice at times of the day when a human isn’t behind the mic.

That may be Futuri’s stated purpose, but you just know that radio group owners are looking for ways to cut costs by reducing headcount. Plus an AI DJ will never call in sick, never go on vacation, never show up drunk or high, or question the orders it’s given.

Here’s an aircheck scoop of a RadioGPT bot in Springfield, Ohio featuring just the announcer breaks. It comes across as a bit flat, but I really wish it didn’t sound this credible. It bugs me when it says “We’re like radio humans, only better.” And the joke about the Roomba making “a clean getaway” is pretty lame. (There are a few more groaners like that in this aircheck.)

Still, we need to remember, too, that this is the worst this technology will be.