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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
A Polish radio station has stirred controversy after relaunching one of its channels in a new version run almost completely by artificial intelligence, including its presenters.
Staff who previously worked on the channel have criticised the move. But the station’s manager says that cooperation with them would have been terminated regardless of the AI decision because the channel had previously been unsuccessful.
On Monday, Radio Kraków, a state-owned broadcaster that operates in Poland’s second-largest city, announced that the following day it would launch Poland’s “first radio station created almost entirely by artificial intelligence”.
Its programmes would be presented by three AI characters, each of which would have a specific personality, set of interests and even AI-generated images of how they look.
One character is called Jakub “Kuba” Zieliński (pictured above), a “22-year-old studying acoustic engineering, looking for the latest news in the field of sound production and new technological solutions”.
Another is Emilia “Emi” Nowak (pictured below), a “20-year-old journalism student and pop culture expert, passionately following the latest trends in the world of cinema, music and fashion”.
The third, called Alex Szulc, is “socially engaged on topics related to identity, queer culture and the influence of media on society”.
Radio Kraków said that the three characters were intended to be “model representatives of Generation Z”, a demographic cohort born between the mid-1990s and early 2010s.
The rebranded channel they present – called OFF Radio Kraków – is now aimed at a younger audience. Music playlists are created using AI tools (though overseen by a human director).
The station emphasises that the idea is “experimental” and “will be gradually developed and enriched with new elements”. They also said that they wanted the venture to spark a debate on the use of AI, including whether it is “more of an opportunity or threat to the media”.
However, the decision was criticised by staff who had previously worked on OFF Radio Kraków but saw their contracts terminated at the end of August this year to make way for the new AI experiment.
One of them, Mateusz Demski, who had hosted a show on the channel previously, launched a petition drawing attention to the fact that around a dozen people had lost their jobs, some of whom had worked there for almost a decade. It had been signed by over 8,200 people at the time of writing.
This is “a dangerous precedent…for the entire industry”, wrote Demski. “We are aware that AI systems are becoming an inseparable part of everyday life. But we believe that media are created by people.”
In response to such criticism, the editor-in-chief of Radio Kraków, Marcin Pulit, issued a statement claiming that “no employees have been dismissed”. Instead, “cooperation agreements were terminated…[with] external collaborators”.
Moreover, wrote Pulit, that decision was made after an assessment of OFF Radio Kraków that found it had a “listenership range of close to zero” while its content also overlapped with the broadcaster’s other channels.
It was therefore decided to relaunch OFF to appeal to younger listeners, and during that process the idea of experimenting with AI was conceived.
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Radio Kraków
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
