In November 2022, CHATGPT burst onto the scene, fundamentally changing the national conversation around AI. Just three months later, Futuri launched a radio specific AI, RADIOGPT, later revamped as AudioAI. It was a year ago this month that Alpha Media made headlines when it launched an AI version of Live 95.5 KBFF/Portland midday host, Ashley Z. Since then though, AI hasn’t really gained much traction. Here’s what I’ve seen happen so far:
I recently recorded a lengthy aircheck of Live 95.5, and since I didn’t have my radio’s headphones in while the clip was being recorded, I got to hear most of it. When I took a listen to the station after the AI rollout, AI Ashley sounded a bit flat, but it was hard for me to tell what was AI and what was real Ashley at times. When I took a listen again in September, it seemed as if the AI experiment on KBFF had come to an end, with real Ashley back to being the midday host. In subsequent listens, I discovered that AI Ashley had been relegated to twice hourly weather reports, and at least one other AI meteorologist has also appeared. I am not sure if these are still powered by AudioAI or if they are produced by Super Hi-Fi using their AI produced weather forecasts. I also seem to remember reading about another station with an AI morning show, but the details escape me at the moment.
Occasionally when talking to my good friend about radio topics, I point out that what we’re seeing in radio is simply radio’s reflection of the conversation at large, and AI is no exception to that. The same friend mentioned in the last sentence is quite concerned that AI jocks will take the place of human ones. While that’s a completely valid concern, it’s one that cannot be applied to just radio, but a multitude of jobs currently in existence today. AI as we know it is still in its infancy, and nobody knows where it will take us. I saw a stat a few months ago that said something like 60% of jobs that exist today didn’t in 1940. Will AI increase the pace of that change? Only time will tell, but much more about AI in radio and other industries will be written over the coming years. Perhaps this should be a column I write every year around this time, given that we’re getting close to the anniversary of when the first AI host debuted in my home market. Before I wrap up this column, I want to note that there have been more AI developments in the past year than what I have covered in this column, but I suspect that many of them we either haven’t heard on the air yet, or deal with station operations behind the scenes that the average listener, or even a listener like myself who listens with the ear of an amateur programmer, is going to know about. Until or unless I get a job at an actual radio station, my perspective will be that of a listener who has played around with some basic programming tools and understands the basics of how a station is programmed, but still has a lot to learn about the details of the craft. Therefore, what is covered in this column in subsequent years will be what goes out on the air. A station could be completely programmed by AI but be staffed by human jocks and I probably wouldn’t cover it since what I hear on the air is likely going to sound like what I hear today.
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