Portland, Oregon radio station Live 95.5 FM has begun using an artificial intelligence voice clone of one of its DJs on air, according to Tech Crunch. The station is running RadioGPT, a GPT-4-powered tool made by Futuri Media, which generates speech that mimics a human host's voice and style.
Midday host Ashley Elzinga introduced the part-time AI DJ, called "AI Ashley," in a Twitter post, demonstrating how the technology works. Futuri Media describes RadioGPT as "your fun best friend on the radio, with less drama and more meme references." The station told Tech Crunch that the clone is not fully replacing "traditional Ashley."
The rollout drew immediate pushback on social media, where users questioned the timing. One user noted that six radio stations in Canada had gone dark the previous day as a cost-cutting move by a major media company, writing that the AI debut would be "nothing but positive for an industry that fucking loves to cripple itself." Another user wrote, "Imagine celebrating your replacement," while a third said they "can't wait for the video when AI Ashley tells Ashley she has 15 minutes to pack her things."
More recently, the station posted a video of AI Ashley calling a sweepstakes winner to say they had won Taylor Swift concert tickets. The AI introduces itself before the call, but it is unclear whether the person on the other end knows they are not speaking to a human.
The radio industry has struggled in recent years. iHeartMedia, one of the largest U.S. media conglomerates, laid off hundreds of staffers in 2020, restructured its organization, and has invested in AI. Live 95.5 is not owned by iHeartMedia, but the station's deployment of AI Ashley—and its decision to have the human the AI is based on promote it—mirrors broader concerns about job replacement.
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