--- title: "Radio Station’s Attempt to Replace Hosts With AI Ends in Absolute Disaster" description: "Off Radio Krakow fired its human hosts and replaced with with three AI-generated presenters, launching a storm of backlash." date: "2024-11-06" modified: "2024-11-06" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/radio-stations-ai-hosts" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "generative ai" - "the digest" --- # Radio Station’s Attempt to Replace Hosts With AI Ends in Absolute Disaster ![Off Radio Krakow fired its human hosts and replaced with with three AI-generated presenters, launching a storm of backlash.]() *A robot hand drops a microphone in a statement of finality. \Image: John Lund/Getty Images\* ## Host of Problems A state-funded radio show in Poland was struggling to retain listeners. So it undertook a shrewd piece of business: fire all the show's presenters, as [*The New York Times* reports](), and replace them with experimental AI hosts. The station, *Off Radio Krakow*, made the bold gamble in a bid to appeal to younger listeners with a trio of AI-generated "Gen Z" hosts. It sort of worked, in the short term. The mix of outrage, rubbernecking, and genuine curiosity saw the station's "close to zero" listener count initially jump to 8,000. But was it worth the ensuing backlash that has turned into a nationwide controversy and launched a broader conversation about [widespread job destruction]() that AI could cause? The station's editor — who's been accused of "sacrificing humans on the altar of technology," as the *NYT* puts it — sounds ambivalent. "I have been turned into a job-killing monster who wants to replace real people with avatars," Mariusz Marcin Pulit, the editor-in-chief of *Radio Krakow* told the *NYT*. He maintains that it was never his intention to replace human workers with AI — even though that's exactly what he did. ## Nobel Intentions The controversy was catalyzed when *Radio Krakow* said it would air a "unique interview" with Polish Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska, which it initially framed as a real conversation. Since the venerated poet died in 2012, you might think that having her on the show would be impossible. But no: her appearance was AI-generated — as was the host interviewing her. "I was very angry that real, deep talks and real interviews with real people were replaced with something totally fake," Lukasz Zaleski, one of the fired radio station hosts, told the *NYT*. The forged personalities created for the AI presenters also became a flashpoint of controversy. One, named Alex Szulc, was touted as a nonbinary progressive "full of social commitment," according to the *NYT*. But references to their gender were scrubbed following backlash from LGBTQ activists; this apparently wasn't the kind of representation they were hoping for. ## Face for Radio Indeed, it's impressive how much *Radio Krakow* has managed to piss almost everybody off, including proponents of the technology. "Although I am a fan of AI development, I believe that certain boundaries are being crossed more and more," [tweeted]() Poland's minister of digitalization Krzysztof Gawkowski. "The widespread use of AI must be done for people, not against them!" Elsewhere in government, Pulit, the station's editor, has become the villain of the week for the many right wing members of the National Radio and Television Council, who have accused him of "eliminating the human factor," per the *NYT*. With all the hate bearing down on him, Pulit has since nixed the AI-hosted radio show — but he couldn't resist framing himself and his pro-AI cohort as martyrs in this debacle. "We are pioneers, and the fate of pioneers can be difficult," Pulit said in his announcement to staff about the AI show's cancellation. **More on AI:** *[OpenAI Accidentally Leaked Its Upcoming o1 Model to Anyone With a Certain Web Address]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()