OFF Radio Krakow, a public radio station in southern Poland, has replaced its human journalists with AI-generated avatars, Euronews reported, in what it calls the country’s first experiment of this kind.
The station aims to appeal to younger audiences by using these virtual hosts to discuss cultural and social issues, including LGBTQ+ topics.
This move sparked national controversy after former presenter Mateusz Demski, among those recently let go, published an open letter criticizing the decision. Demski argued that the replacement of experienced journalists with AI could have detrimental effects on the media industry and creative professions.
His protest gained support, with over 15,000 people signing a petition against the station’s changes.
Station head Marcin Pulit denied that AI was responsible for the firings, attributing the decision instead to low listener numbers.
Despite this, the incident has raised concerns over the role of AI in journalism, prompting Poland’s minister of digital affairs and deputy prime minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, to call for regulations on AI use in media.
“Although I am a fan of AI development, I believe that certain boundaries are being crossed more and more,” he wrote on X.
“The widespread use of AI must be done for people, not against them!”
The station has even gone as far as broadcasting an “interview” conducted by an AI presenter with the late Wisława Szymborska, a Nobel Prize-winning poet who died in 2012. Although the Wisława Szymborska Foundation permitted the use of her name, the situation has added fuel to the ongoing debate about AI’s influence on media.
