The first-ever totally AI radio station might soon be here.
Nuke it. Nuke it from orbit before it multiples.
As someone who has been in the radio business for over 40 years, I’m obviously against replacing human announcers/DJs with AI. Doing so would strip the humanity and authenticity from what a highly intimate one-on-one form of communication. How can a goddamn robot connect with a human? Yet it’s happening.
First, we have Ashley AI, a fake facsimile of a real midday announcer (also named Ashley) at a station in Portland, Oregon. Then came a Swiss experiment where a station replaced all its presenters with AI for a full day (the audience hated it). Then came Basia, an AI experiment at Radio Piekary in Poland, that held down a one-hour shift. But this next step is worse.
Antenne Deutschland has launched Absolut Radio AI, an online station completely driven by artificial intelligence. It’s a music outlet, focusing on the 14-49 demo and featuring a mix of dance and pop. The station’s male voice, kAI, talks about music and also plays up the advantages of AI. Everything is powered by an automation system called Voicetrack.ai created by a German-American company called Radio.Cloud.
The station’s program director says this: “kAI is a presenter in its infancy. We know that he is certainly not perfect at the beginning and that he will make one or two mistakes. I could imagine that we will soon provide kAI with a sidekick or that listeners will be able to interact with him. Everything is conceivable and possible.”
There are no plans to turn Absolut Radio AI into a full-time over-the-air station. But just wait.
Kill it. Kill it with fire.
(Via RadioInk)
by devaluing what the presenter does the listener doesn’t perceive added value and won’t miss them. and this didn’t just start. when bean counters took over and we replaced presenters that could program and engage with “personalities” that are the equivalent of a cardboard cutout is when something had to be done.