Hello, dear Hivers,
Today's Polish public opinion has been electrified with information about AI usage in national media, precisely, Off Radio Cracow. It's part of a larger radio channel, Radio Cracow, mostly dedicated to my generation. Honestly, before today's turning events I didn't hear about it. Nevertheless, I spent some time reading statements, mostly those with people involved in this project.
Long story short: a freelancer journalist published a statement about his audition on that radio to be cancelled, among many other projects and fired some people from their jobs, too. The editor-in-chief has changed with a completely different vision of pursuing that project and "creating a much-refreshed version dedicated to the GenZ".
Changes are inevitable, one might say, and that's true. However, this situation looks completely different. Those people, journalists, and freelancers have been fired in favour of AI. Yes, you see correctly, public media has an approach to AI.
As the editor-in-chief explains, "It's a public experiment dedicated to people from 18 to 26 y.o. Specifically the music is generated to their taste". But that's only it, today's audition was conducted by an AI-generated editor with... Nobel laureate who died some time ago, Wisława Szymborska. Her voice was generated by an artificial intelligence, as she discussed the matter of a Nobel Prize present laureate, Han Kang.
The "project" specified three AI-generated journalists, who will discuss "important modern subjects, that touch the young generation", e.g. culture (music, cinema, fashion), technology, and topics related to identity, queer culture and the impact of the media on society.
You may ask, how many objective voices have been raised today? A lot. Many independent journalists who use SoMe as their main tool have raised the appeal of the dangers of the spread of fake news and the value and integrity of journalistic work.
AI-generated videos and voices have flooded SoMe since the end of last year - you could hear Freddie Mercury, Kurt Cobain or Elvis singing "My Heart Will Go On" or other, non-related songs, that sound completely realistic. You could see many videos with the late Queen Elizabeth II speaking about quite delicate matters, or famous politicians being copied into funny or cringe situations.
We can't escape the world we live in, but we can make an impact on changing it. Since AI-generated content is highly pumped into SoMe, it can easily manipulate public opinion on many different and delicate subjects. I am familiar with the statement, that a lot of content people consume is somewhat manipulated, but that's a new risk that in the wrong hands could become too dangerous.
As I mentioned previously, journalists and freelancers have lost their jobs in favour of AI-generated projects from public taxes.
So, every taxpayer of the city of Cracow, or further, Poland is paying the editor-in-chief to listen to content "created" by artificial intelligence. An explanation is simple, the editor-in-chief confirmed in a statement, “It's cheaper to pay AI than humans.”
My voice is among others, who raised it with outrage - leave culture free.
I am not the greatest enthusiast of anything AI-generated, never was, and never will be for simple reasons—I am an artist. I spent a lot of time, effort, and money on my education, and hours creating pieces, and I still learn and will learn techniques, history, and craftmanship in my area. I am also open to new directions.
We're entering risky times, where our optimism can simply become our greatest fear (people who watched Black Mirror will know this one), how can we control something that could become more powerful than a human brain? How can we feel music and art, how can we live in something that wasn't touched by a living?
This is also an opportunity for all the craftsmen, too. Everything done by hand with good quality will be in price as a luxury good more than now.
The statement that the good art will always defend itself is partly true, but if you look closer to the art history, you can find famous names, e.g. Van Gogh, who's is the best example that people during his life didn't support him, except his brother and he only sold one painting.
So that's why it is important to use new mediums wisely, such as a blockchain, which can actually help many people around the world, support communities and actually make an impact in a real world.
VOTE: Ecency | HiveBlog | Peakd
Sources:
Wisława Szymborska's AI
Main Website
original post
statement