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Thy has been on the radio for six months. Turns out she isn’t real (www.smh.com.au)

submitted 1 day ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/news@beehaw.org

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A Sydney radio station has been using an AI-generated host for about six months without disclosing it – and was not legally obliged to.

It was revealed last week that Australian Radio Network’s (ARN) Sydney-based CADA station, which broadcasts across western Sydney and is available online and through the iHeartRadio app, had created and deployed an AI host for its Workdays with Thy slot.

The artificial host known as “Thy” is on-air at 11am each weekday to present four hours of hip-hop, but at no point during the show, nor anywhere on the ARN website, is the use of AI disclosed.

After initial questioning from Stephanie Coombes in The Carpet newsletter, it was revealed that the station used ElevenLabs – a generative AI audio platform that transforms text into speech – to create Thy, whose likeness and voice were cloned from a real employee in the ARN finance team.

An ARN spokesperson said the company was exploring how new technology could enhance the listener experience.

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[–] Nougat@fedia.io 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not just about the music, either. You'd also get local traffic and weather occasionally, and if there was some important news to report on, that would take precedence.

You don't get that with the streaming service of your choosing.

[–] MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Very true. I remember people listening to a local station not because of their music, but they had the best traffic coverage. It was the generic top billboard songs station, so maybe that skewed perception, but plenty of people only tuned in on their way to work for the traffic and would listen to other stations if given the option otherwise. I totally forgot about that.

[–] Nougat@fedia.io 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I suppose mapping applications provide pretty good traffic for literally where you are driving, so there's that. Weather is on there, too, if you want it.

It's the "sudden important news story" bit that isn't covered yet, I think.

[–] prodigalsorcerer@lemmy.ca 1 points 19 hours ago

How many "sudden important news stories" are there really? Like, there was a time when they'd interrupt your program to let you know about the Pope dying or a terrorist attack, but the truth is that if you're sitting at home watching TV, that news isn't actually important enough to interrupt your show.

The only actual important immediate news you need are severe weather alerts for earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, etc. And most countries have mobile notification systems for that now, and can target the specific impacted region instead of half the country.