'Guaranteed Human': Audio giant iHeartMedia says real people, not AI personalities, are at the controls
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As media executives wrestle with the use of artificial intelligence, radio giant iHeartMedia wants to stand out.“We don’t use AI-generated personalities.We don’t play AI music that features synthetic vocalists pretending to be human,” Tom Poleman, the company’s programming chief, wrote in an email to employees.
“The podcasts we publish are also Guaranteed Human,” he wrote.Radio station DJs now are expected to say “Guaranteed Human,” as part of their hourly on-air disclosures, which include announcing the station’s call letters, as required by the Federal Communications Commission.The new branding campaign has its roots in iHeartMedia’s research that listeners turn on the radio for more than just music and information.“Consumers aren’t just looking for content, they’re looking for connection,” the company’s president of insights, Lainie Fertick, wrote in an October blog post.
“In a world of tech overload, consumers are searching for something real.”The move comes as Hollywood creators, agents and executives come to grips with rapid advances in artificial intelligence, which has assisted workers with routine tasks but also caused a stir with the release of realistic AI actors, such as Tilly Norwood, which has more than 66,000 followers on Instagram.Entertainment behemoths, including Walt Disney Co.
and Comcast’s NBCUniversal, also have sued AI companies for copyright infringement.Television ‘South Park’s’ ‘Sora Not Sorry’ episode grapples with copyright infringement in AI-generated content by featuring characters like Totoro and Bluey, and a plotline with President Trump.To be sure, iHeartMedia uses “AI-powered productivity and distribution tools that help scale our business operations,” Poleman wrote in his note.
Such AI tools are used for “scheduling, audience insights, data analysis, workflow automation, show prep, editin...