Polish Radio Station Abandons use of AI ‘Presenters’ Following Outcry
By Vanessa Gera
AI Artificial Intelligence Security Sentinel Password Cyber Security Ransomware Email Phishing Encrypted Technology, Digital Information Protected Secured Lock
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A Polish radio station said Monday that it has ended an “experiment” that involved using AI-generated “presenters” instead of real journalists after the move sparked an outcry.
Weeks after dismissing its journalists, OFF Radio Krakow relaunched last week using virtual characters created by AI as its presenters.
Across Poland, people were angry, expressing fears that humans were being replaced by AI.
The station's editor, Marcin Pulit, said in a statement Monday that the aim had been to spark a debate about artificial intelligence, and that it had succeeded. He said the experiment had been meant to last three months but that it saw no reason to go on.
“After a week, we had collected so many observations, opinions, and conclusions that we decided that its continuation was pointless,” Pulit wrote.
He said the station was “surprised by the level of emotion that accompanied this experiment, attributing to us non-existent intentions and actions, harsh judgments formulated on the basis of false reports.”
The station in the southern city of Krakow had said its avatars were designed to reach younger listeners by speaking about cultural, art and social issues including the concerns of LGBTQ+ people.
The change last week got nationwide attention after Mateusz Demski, a journalist and film critic who until recently hosted a show on the station, launched a petition calling for the station to end the experiment and published an open letter protesting “the replacement of employees with artificial intelligence."
“It is a dangerous precedent that hits us all,” he wrote, and argued it could open 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.”
More than 23,000 signed the petition.
Last Tuesday the station broadcast an “interview” conducted by an AI-generated presenter with a voice pretending to be Wisława Szymborska, a Polish poet and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature who died in 2012.
Before canceling the experiment, the station had been planning an interview with Polish statesman Józef Piłsudski, who died in 1935.
The Trump administration has issued its first warnings to online services that offer unofficial versions of popular drugs like the blockbuster obesity treatment Wegovy.
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Federal Trade Commission has launched an inquiry into several social media and artificial intelligence companies about the potential harms to children and teenagers who use their AI chatbots as companions.
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index Online broker Robinhood Markets will join the S&P 500 index as its stock rides higher on a cryptocurrency wave.
Ali Kashani, CEO of Serve Robotics, dives into their $63.3M acquisition of Vayu Robotics and how it's accelerating the future of autonomous delivery systems.
