Aussie radio faces backlash for employing AI-generated host
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Screenshot from CADA website.
Sydney: In Australia, a radio station is facing backlash over the employment of an AI-generated host for a programme without disclosing it to listeners, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The radio station named CADA, owned by the Australian Radio Network (ARN), created an AI avatar to present a four-hour weekday show broadcast to Western Sydney, which was made available on the iHeartRadio app, too.
The show was named ‘Work Days with Thy’ and featured a radio jockey named ‘Thy’, the AI-generated host, who had been presenting the programme for the past six months since November 2024.
The description of the show on the CADA website reads, "Every weekday from 11 am-3 pm while you are at work, driving around, doing the commute on public transport or at uni, Thy will be playing you the hottest tracks from around the world.”
"Curated by our music experts, these are the songs that are charting or on the cusp of blowing up...so if you're day is looking a bit bleh, let Thy and CADA be the energy and vibe to get your mood lifted," it says.
As per reports, at no point during the show nor anywhere on the website was it disclosed that Thy was AI-generated. It was found that the radio station used Eleven Labs, the generative audio platform, to convert text into speech in order to create Thy. Also, the avatar’s likeness and voice were based on a real employee in the ARN finance team, it is learned.
However, confirming the use of AI, ARN said that the radio station was trailing AI audio tools on CADA using Thy’s voice.
Meanwhile, the Australian Association of Voice Actors slammed the radio’s conduct and demanded that there be necessary legislation regarding the use of AI.
