A Polish radio station has ignited debate by dismissing its journalists and introducing AI-generated “presenters” in their place.
OFF Radio Krakow, which is based in the southern city of Krakow, relaunched this week, describing the move as “Poland’s first experiment where journalists … are virtual characters created by AI.”
The station said its three AI avatars aim to attract a younger audience by discussing cultural, artistic, and social topics, including LGBTQ+ issues.
“Is artificial intelligence more of an opportunity or a threat to media, radio, and journalism? We will explore this question,” wrote Marcin Pulit, the station’s director, in an official statement.
The shift has drawn nationwide attention after Mateusz Demski, a journalist and film critic who previously hosted a program on the station, released an open letter on Tuesday decrying the “replacement of employees with artificial intelligence.”
“It is a dangerous precedent that hits us all,” he wrote, arguing that it could pave the way “to a world in which experienced employees associated with the media sector for years and people employed in creative industries will be replaced by machines.”
By Wednesday morning, over 15,000 people had signed the petition, Demski told The Associated Press, adding that he had received calls from hundreds, many of them young people opposed to being part of such an experiment.
Demski worked at OFF Radio Krakow from February 2022 until August, interviewing Ukrainians fleeing the war. In August, he was one of about a dozen journalists laid off, a move he described as shocking given the station’s public funding through taxpayer support.
Pulit asserted that no journalist was dismissed because of AI, attributing the layoffs instead to the station’s low listenership, which he described as “close to zero.”
On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski commented that he had read Demski’s appeal and believes legislation is necessary to regulate AI.
“Although I am a fan of AI development, I believe that certain boundaries are being crossed more and more,” he wrote on X.
“The widespread use of AI must be done for people, not against them!”
On Tuesday, the station aired an “interview” featuring an AI-generated presenter whose voice mimicked that of Wisława Szymborska, the late Polish poet and Nobel laureate who passed away in 2012.
Michał Rusinek, president of the Wisława Szymborska Foundation, which oversees the poet’s legacy, told broadcaster TVN that he had granted permission for the station to use Szymborska’s name in the broadcast.
Rusinek noted that Szymborska had a sense of humor and would likely have appreciated the gesture.
