SOUND OF THE FUTURE
Radio listeners are duped by secret AI clone host who presented 4hrs-a-day for SIX MONTHS – would YOU have spotted it?
See if you can debunk the robot host's AI-generated voice by listening in the video player
FURIOUS radio listeners have slammed an AI-generated clone host who presented live on air four hours a day for half a year.
Artificial intelligence robo-host "Thy" broadcast her show on Australian Radio Network’s CADA station for six months before being called out.
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The creepy radio host was created using an AI software developed by voice cloning firm ElevenLabs.
Her show, dubbed Workdays with Thy, presented music for four hours daily, Monday to Friday.
But the sneaky bot failed to ever mention that she was not actually a real person.
The show's website states: "If your day is looking a bit bleh, let Thy and CADA be the energy and vibe to get your mood lifted."
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The shock reveal only emerged after Sydney-based writer Stephanie Coombes questioned whether the automated host was really human.
Coombes posed crucial questions in a bombshell blog post: "What is Thy’s last name? Who is she?
"Where did she come from? There is no biography, or further information about the woman who is supposedly presenting this show."
Breakthrough audio analysis then debunked the hyper-realistic AI-generated host.
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It showed that Thy's voice clips sounded identical to each other, when saying the phrase "old school" across different shows.
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ARN project leader Fayed Tohme then admitted to the show's dubious AI practices.
He said in a since-deleted LinkedIn post that Thy "sounds real" and has real fans - despite not being a real person.
The leader said: "No mic, no studio, just code and vibes.
"An experiment by ARN and ElevenLabs that’s pushing the boundaries of what ‘live radio’ even means."
The radio network sparked outrage from listeners for their shady radio show - even though there are currently no rules against the use of AI in broadcast content according to the communications regulator down under.
Vice president of the Australian Association of Voice actors said that the show "should have been upfront and completely honest" before using an AI host.
"People have been deceived into thinking it’s a real person because there’s no AI labelling," she complained.
What are the arguments against AI?
Artificial intelligence is a highly contested issue, and it seems everyone has a stance on it. Here are some common arguments against it:
Loss of jobs - Some industry experts argue that AI will create new niches in the job market, and as some roles are eliminated, others will appear. However, many artists and writers insist the argument is ethical, as generative AI tools are being trained on their work and wouldn't function otherwise.
Ethics - When AI is trained on a dataset, much of the content is taken from the Internet. This is almost always, if not exclusively, done without notifying the people whose work is being taken.
Privacy - Content from personal social media accounts may be fed to language models to train them. Concerns have cropped up as Meta unveils its AI assistants across platforms like Facebook and Instagram. There have been legal challenges to this: in 2016, legislation was created to protect personal data in the EU, and similar laws are in the works in the United States.
Misinformation - As AI tools pulls information from the Internet, they may take things out of context or suffer hallucinations that produce nonsensical answers. Tools like Copilot on Bing and Google's generative AI in search are always at risk of getting things wrong. Some critics argue this could have lethal effects - such as AI prescribing the wrong health information.
ARN said in response that they were "exploring how new technology can support great content".
They added: "We’ve been trialling AI audio tools on CADA using the voice of Thy, an ARN team member.
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"This is a space being explored by broadcasters globally, and while the trial has offered valuable insights, it’s also reinforced the unique value that personalities bring to creating truly compelling content."
Workdays with Thy reportedly attracted at least 72,000 listeners during the show's final month of ratings.
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