WARSAW, Poland — A Polish radio station said Monday it had ended an “experiment” with using AI-generated “presenters” in place of real journalists after the move sparked a backlash.
Weeks after laying off its journalists, OFF Radio Krakow relaunched last week with virtual characters created by AI as presenters.
People across Poland were angry and expressed fear that humans would be replaced by AI.
Marcin Puritt, the station’s editor, said in a statement Monday that the goal was to spark a debate about artificial intelligence, and it succeeded. He said the experiment was scheduled to last three months, but he saw no reason to continue.
“After a week, we had gathered so many observations, opinions, and conclusions that we decided it was pointless to continue,” Puritt wrote.
He said the broadcaster was “surprised by the level of emotion surrounding this experiment due to the harsh judgments made based on our non-existent intentions and actions and false reporting.”
The broadcaster in the southern city of Krakow said Avatar was designed to reach young listeners by talking about culture, art and social issues, including the concerns of LGBTQ+ people.
Journalist and film critic Mateusz Demski, who until recently hosted a program on the station, launched a petition calling on the station to stop the experiment, protesting the “replacement of employees with artificial humans.” The change gained national attention last week after the publication of an open letter. Intelligence. “
“This is a dangerous precedent for all of us,” he wrote, leading to “a world in which experienced workers who have worked in the media sector for many years and those employed in the creative industries are replaced by machines.” He argued that it could pave the way for
More than 23,000 people have signed the petition.
Last Tuesday, the station aired an “interview” conducted by an AI-generated host with a voice impersonating Wisława Szymborska, a Polish poet and Nobel Prize winner in literature who died in 2012.
Before canceling the experiment, the station had planned an interview with Polish politician Józef Piłsudski, who died in 1935.
