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.
So … six months and nobody notices?
What’s the problem?
The classic conflict of automation. Due to the structure of our economic system, the benefits of reducing labor are not that we all have more time to pursue art, philosophy, joy or love- instead talented, interesting people are forced out of jobs they can do well (and enjoy) and into financial stress and confusion.