Polish radio station fires journalists to replace them with AI 'presenters'

(CLO) A Polish radio station has sparked controversy after firing journalists and replacing them with AI-generated "presenters."

Weeks after laying off journalists, Radio OFF Krakow in Poland relaunched this week with "the first experiment in Poland in which journalists are virtual characters created by AI."

Radio in the southern city of Krakow said the three virtual characters were designed to reach younger listeners with cultural, artistic, and social issues, including concerns of the LGBTQ+ community.

"Is artificial intelligence an opportunity or a threat to media, broadcasting, and journalism? We will find the answer to this question," the station's head, Marcin Pulit, wrote in a statement.

The headquarters of Radio Krakow in Krakow, Poland. Photo: Beata Zawrzel

This change has attracted nationwide attention after Mateusz Demski, one of the journalists fired by Radio OFF Krakow, published an open letter on October 22nd protesting "the replacement of staff with artificial intelligence".

"This is a dangerous precedent that affects us all," he wrote, arguing that it could pave the way "for a world where experienced professionals with years of experience in media and creative industries will be replaced by machines."

Mr. Demski said that as of the morning of October 23, more than 15,000 people had signed a petition opposing the replacement of employees with artificial intelligence. He also received calls from hundreds of people, many of them young people who did not want to be subjects of such an experiment.

Mr. Demski had worked at Radio OFF Krakow since February 2022, conducting interviews with Ukrainians fleeing the crisis, until he was fired in August along with about a dozen other journalists. He said the move was particularly shocking because the radio station is a public station supported by taxpayers.

Mr. Pulit, the station's head, insisted that no journalists were fired because of the AI, but because the audience was "almost zero."

On October 22, Minister for Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski spoke out, stating that he had read Demski's appeal and that laws were needed to regulate AI.

"Although I am a fan of AI development, I believe that certain boundaries are increasingly being crossed. The widespread use of AI must be for the benefit of humanity, not against it!" he wrote on social media platform X.

Ngoc Anh (according to CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/dai-phat-thanh-ba-lan-sa-thai-cac-nha-bao-de-thay-bang-nguoi-dan-chuong-trinh-ai-post318433.html