Popular Polish Radio Station Replaces Journalist With Artificial Intelligence

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• Oct 24, 2024 | Kabita Pathak

A Polish radio station, OFF Radio Krakow, has recently been accused of replacing real human journalists with AI presenters…

Digital Desk: A Polish radio station, OFF Radio Krakow, has recently been accused of replacing real human journalists with AI presenters. Located in the southern part of the city of Krakow, after dismissing its journalists, it returned to the air this week, and an article was written, styling it a 
“the first experiment in Poland,"  in which journalists are replaced by virtual characters made by artificial intelligence, also known as AI. The station in the Southern city said its 3 avatars are intended for listeners under young liste ers and cover such topics as cultural, social, and queer ones.

The change has been widely protested. Marcin Pulit, the former station head, observed that the transition could lead to broader replacements via AI, avoiding endangering professions in the creative arena. Pulit referred to it as a dysfunctional approach that seeks to eliminate experienced media workers in favor of the machines.

Among them, there was one predicting the worst, Mateusz Demski, the journalist and the film critic, a former member of OFF Radio Krakow. He spearheaded a campaign against the station’s decision, which had attracted more than 15,000 supporters by Wednesday. He said this was quite worrying to many people who have spoken out in the media, complaining that many more job opportunities are at risk in fields like journalism and other creative careers.

The experiment has also attracted the public’s attention because OFF Radio Krakow is a public broadcaster and financed by the taxpayers’ money. On Tuesday, it even had an ‘interview’ with an AI presenter posing as the voice of Wislawa Symborska, the late Polish Nobel Prize winning poet.

Poland’s Minister of Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gawkowski, then commented on the issue, urging governments and parliaments to legislate the application of AI in media. He mentioned how technology is impacting society and in the near future how dangerous it would be.