Have you decided you will NOT use AI where on air staff is concerned? Maybe you’ll use it with show content, maybe you’ll dabble when it’s time to write a creative script, but as far as the voices your listeners will hear; that’s all human! ANNOUNCE IT! iHeart is doing something great in letting the public know they are all human!
iHeart Media announced their “Guaranteed Human” campaign last week. Within this statement, they are promising to only publish podcasts voiced by humans, the music played will be bands who have actual singers and musicians, and the personalities are actually in the studio and not artificial. iHeart’s legal IDs and sweepers are also created with real voices.
Research has shown listeners still don’t trust artificial intelligence. Once they know whatever they are hearing was artificially created, they are more likely to turn the station. iHeart did their own examination and found 90% of listeners want their media created by real humans. 92% says the human connection is the most important, and 9 out of 10 said human trust can’t be mass produced by AI.
Listeners want to feel like their your friend. When they turn on the station, they want to say “OH! Stephanie’s talking about her kids again!” and relate to another mom’s chaos. They don’t want facts thrown at them with little personality. They want to hear on air who they met at the concert last weekend. They want to hear John’s terrible dad jokes and his co-host making fun of him for it the rest of the morning. They want to find out what to expect on the morning drive as far as traffic and weather are concerned. They want that from YOU! Not Artificial Anne and Andy. YOU are their connection. YOU are the reason they listen to YOUR show.
If you can, I suggest making a similar statement. All Human All the Time.
Also, be honest. If you use a little AI in your commercials, mention it. If you use an AI voice for sweepers, have the AI say something sarcastic about being fake but “John and Stephanie are as real as they come! Well, John is and most of Stephanie.” Make a joke of it; but let the listeners know you vow to always have a warm body in that seat in the studio and not a cold robot doing the work of a human.
Crazy times when you have to distinguish between a human and a robot on air, but here we are.