Poland: Radio station fires host to hire AI presenter. An interview with a dead poet follows

Off Radio Krakow, a state-funded radio station in Poland, recently terminated the position of host Lukasz Zaleski to introduce an AI-generated presenter. This controversial decision escalated when the station aired an artificial intelligence-generated interview with the late Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska, who died in 2012.

Zaleski, who hosted a weekly programme focused on interviews with theatre directors and writers, expressed his dismay at the station’s actions. Initially resigned to the realities of the media industry, his frustration grew after witnessing the AI-generated interview.

“I went to her funeral, so I know for sure that she is dead,” he stated, as per a report in New York Times.

The experiment aimed to breathe new life into Off Radio Krakow, which reportedly had “close to zero” listeners prior to the introduction of AI segments. Following the debut of AI presenters, the station’s audience surged to 8,000 almost overnight. The AI-generated content included three fictional presenters, each with crafted identities, intended to attract younger listeners.

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However, the use of AI to replicate the voices of deceased figures led to a storm of criticism. Mariusz Marcin Pulit, the station’s editor-in-chief, faced accusations of undermining human contributions to media. “I have been turned into a job-killing monster who wants to replace real people with avatars,” he lamented, asserting that the goal was to stimulate discussion around AI in the context of ongoing legislative debates in Poland.

The backlash included harsh criticism from other journalists and industry figures. Jaroslaw Juszkiewicz, whose voice was replaced by AI in a navigation app, condemned the Szymborska interview as a breach of journalistic ethics. He expressed his disbelief at the decision to create an interview with a figure who could not respond.

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The situation escalated further when the National Radio and Television Council, a regulatory body, criticised Pulit for “eliminating the human factor” in media. Even government officials, including the minister of digitalisation, voiced concern over the ethical boundaries being crossed with the use of AI.

In response to the growing backlash, Pulit announced the discontinuation of the AI presenters. “We are pioneers, and the fate of pioneers can be difficult,” he communicated to staff, acknowledging the negative reception of the AI initiative. This included retracting the AI-generated presenters, such as the virtual “pop culture expert” Emilia, who conducted the now-infamous interview with Szymborska.

While Michal Rusinek, who manages Szymborska’s literary estate, initially approved the use of her voice, he later criticised the quality of the AI-generated interview, calling it “horrible” and a poor representation of the poet’s true spirit.

Experts on AI’s role in journalism have noted that, for now, technology appears to assist rather than replace human journalists. Felix Simon remarked, “there is still reason to believe it will not bring the big jobs wipeout some people fear.”

Zaleski and fellow dismissed presenter Mateusz Demski launched an online petition, warning that the Off Radio Krakow incident serves as a dangerous precedent for the media industry. “The use of AI-generated presenters… is opening the door to a world in which experienced employees associated for years with the media and people employed in creative industries will be replaced by machines,” they cautioned.

The world is now grappling with the implications of AI in creative industries, questioning the balance between innovation and the irreplaceable value of human voices and perspectives.

With inputs from agencies.