Publicly owned Off Radio Kraków has stopped using AI journalists in place of human presenters after protests from reporters and the State media regulator.
Off Radio Krakow relaunched one of its channels on October 21 in a new format almost entirely featuring artificial intelligence technology, including “virtual” presenters.
Staff who previously worked on the channel criticised the move but the station’s manager Marcin Pullit said that their contracts would have had to be terminated regardless of the AI-programme decision because the channel had failed to attract enough listeners and did not have the funds to pay workers.
The programmes involved, starting from October 21, were presented by three AI characters, each of which had a “personality” generated by the technology, including individual interests and AI-generated images of what they looked like.
One character was called Jakub “Kuba” Zieliński, presented as a “22-year-old studying acoustic engineering, looking for the latest news in the field of sound production and new technological solutions”. Another was Emilia “Emi” Nowak, a “20-year-old journalism student and pop culture expert, passionately following the latest trends in the world of cinema, music and fashion”.
The third, named Alex Szulc, was described as “socially engaged on topics related to identity, queer culture and the influence of media on society”.
The station said the three characters were to designed be “model representatives of Generation Z”, those born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s. The station was aimed at a younger audience with AI tools generating playlists, although they were said to be under human supervision.
The 12 staff who had earlier lost their jobs have launched a public petition, already signed by more than 19,000 people. One of the signatories, Mateusz Demski, said the station’s AI move was “a dangerous precedent for the entire industry”.
He added: “We are aware that AI systems are becoming an inseparable part of everyday life. But we believe that the media is created by people.”
The petition is to set be delivered to the Polish culture ministry, the State media regulatory body and the Polish ombudsman Marcin Wiącek.
Maciej Świrski, the head of the State regulator KRRiTV and who recently attended a conference of European national media regulators in Cyprus on challenges posed by AI, protested at the sacking of the journalists. He accused Pullit of lying about a lack of funding leading to the lay-offs and use of AI at Off Radio Kraków.
Pullit denied Świrski’s claims and told portal Wirtualne Media that, in his opinion, Off Radio Kraków was conducting an experiment that “will be gradually developed and enriched with new elements”. He acknowledged such developments were likely to spark debate on the use of AI, especially regarding whether it was “more of an opportunity or threat to the media”.
Despite that, on October 28, Pullit announced the scrapping of programmes with AI presenters and a return to the standard profile of a “music station”.
He claimed: “The experiment was a success as it provoked discussion and because it showed how many walks of life, such as the use of AI, require regulation”.
Pullit did not mention the fact that the station’s AI venture, which was set to last for three months, was abruptly ended after just one week.
