Edmonton-based radio station Sonic 102.9 is using an Artificial Intelligence radio host during a late-night slot. Sonic’s AI host, Sarah, has been hosting the Sunday night 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. radio slot for a few years now, but Edmontonians are now beginning to take notice.
“Anything that uses AI openly for something a talented human could be doing, I basically refuse to engage with,” one Reddit user says on an Edmonton-based page, “it’s an insult to human capability and art.”
William Morton, a NAIT Radio and Media Production student, shares a similar sentiment. Morton, alongside other NAIT students, worries that AI could threaten job security in an already competitive market.
“There’s tons of grads that come out of this program who want to start hosting,” says Morton, “we’re trying to future-proof our jobs, and this is taking that away.”
However, some with more experience in the industry believe AI is worth exploring.
“I really don’t know what sort of resistance there might be,” says Dave Sawchuk, an instructor in the Radio and Media Production program. “I applaud the companies that are out investigating.”
“We’re gonna see how our audiences and our advertisers react to it and then we’ll adjust accordingly,” says Sawchuk.
Edmonton is far from the first market to use the technology; our city has merely joined the ranks of an emerging trend. According to an article from Global News, Australian Radio Network (ARN) utilized AI for six months before listeners took notice, and smaller stations across Canada have been using AI for even longer than Sonic.
“It’s a feeling-out process, and for many markets, it’s just now begun,” says Sawchuck. “I think AI is inevitable at every industry.”
But some hope the ever-evolving integration of AI will be less inevitable.
“It’s so disappointing how many people use it,” says Morton, “I hope that there’s more of a younger resistance.”NAIT has seemingly noticed this trend. The polytechnic has partnered with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) to offer multiple Continuing Education classes specializing in practical uses of AI. With these classes, NAIT aims to “provide you with the latest in AI ethics, risk mitigation, and tools,” and enable students “to responsibly deploy an AI strategy.”
