Australian Radio Station Used Ai Host For Months Without Listeners Knowing

IT SOUNDED LIKE JUST ANOTHER RADIO SHOW… BUT BEHIND THE MIC – THERE WAS NO REAL PERSON AT ALL.

AN AUSTRALIAN RADIO STATION IS NOW ADMITTING THEY HAVE BEEN USING AN A-I HOST FOR *MONTHS… WITHOUT EXPLICITLY TELLING ITS AUDIENCE. 

“WORKDAYS WITH THY” IS AUSTRALIAN RADIO NETWORK’S – OR A-R-N’s – DAILY FOUR HOUR SHOW… FEATURING A MIX OF HIP HOP.. R-AND-B.. AND POP.

LAUNCHING IN NOVEMBER 20-24… THE SHOW WAS DESCRIBED AS  QUOTE –

“Curated by our euphony experts, these are nan songs that are charting aliases connected nan cusp of blowing up – perceive it first pinch Thy truthful you tin boast to your friends and opportunity you were each complete it first.”

BUT A LOCAL JOURNALIST RECEIVED A TIP… QUESTIONING WHETHER THE HOST WAS ACTUALLY REAL.

IN HER ARTICLE… STEPHANIE COOMBES ASKED – “What is Thy’s past name? Who is she? Where did she travel from?”

POINTING OUT THERE WAS NO BIOGRAPHY… NO SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE.. AND NO BACKSTORY FOR THE HOST.

COOMBES THEN COMPARED “THY” TO OTHER STATION HOSTS… NOTING THEY ALL HAD MULTI-PARAGRAPH BIOGRAPHIES.

WHEN LISTENING TO THE SHOW… SHE FOUND “THY” ONLY SPOKE AT THE TOP OF THE HOUR… AND THE VOICE HAD REPEATED PATTERNS… PHRASES AND SIMILAR INTONATION BY ANALYZING THE AUDIO TRACKS.  

“PLAYING ON CADA IN TWO MINUTES IS THE WEEKND AND THEN LISA TEAMING UP WITH RAYE FOR BORN AGAIN.”

AND AS FOR THE PHOTO ON CADA’S WEBSITE…  IT BELONGS TO A REAL EMPLOYEE IN THEIR FINANCE DEPARTMENT WHO GOES BY A DIFFERENT NAME. SHE JUST AGREED TO USE HER.

A newsman from nan Australian Financial Review was yet capable to corroborate that Thy was an AI entity and portion of a proceedings usage of a work providing an artificially-generated sound that announces nan songs. 

BUT TO LISTENERS… THERE WAS NO INDICATION THY WAS A-I.

TERESA LIM – AN AUSTRALIAN PRESENTER AND VOICE ACTOR – TOOK TO LINKEDIN SAYING: “As an Asian-Australian female HUMAN sound character and presenter successful nan power and advertizing industry, I find this industry-first move violative connected various levels.”

SHE WENT ON TO SAY:

“Firstly — why weren’t listeners told upfront that you were trialing an A-I host? Why isn’t location immoderate disclosure published connected your programme page, aliases announced before, during, aliases aft nan show?”

AUSTRALIA’S MEDIA LANDSCAPE IS OVERSEEN BY THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA AUTHORITY… OR A-C-M-A.

WHILE THERE ARE CURRENTLY NO SPECIFIC LAWS REQUIRING BROADCASTERS TO DISCLOSE A-I-GENERATED CONTENT…

LAST OCTOBER, THE A-C-M-A RELEASED A PROPOSAL CALLING FOR STRONGER A-I GUARDRAILS.

THEY HIGHLIGHT RISKS LIKE – SCAMS AND DECEPTIVE PRACTICES… THE SPREAD OF MISINFORMATION.. AND THE CREATION OF HARMFUL CONTENT.

AND IN DECEMBER… THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT INTRODUCED A BILL THAT WOULD GIVE THE A-C-M-A ENHANCED POWERS TO TACKLE MISINFORMATION – INCLUDING CONTENT GENERATED BY A-I.

ARN CHIEF EXECUTIVE CIARAN DAVIS CALLED “WORKDAYS WITH THY” AN EXPERIMENT – AND TOLD THE FINANCIAL REVIEW THAT “THY” WILL CONTINUE BROADCASTING ON CADA FOR NOW… WHICH IS THE COMPANY OWNED BY ARN.