SoftwareAIAn AI version of a beloved British broadcaster who died last year is doing an ‘autonomous’ podcast seriesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
SoftwareAIAn AI version of a beloved British broadcaster who died last year is doing an ‘autonomous’ podcast seriesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Mirrorpix via Getty Images)
Sir Michael Parkinson was a broadcaster and interviewer best-known for presenting Parkinson, a BBC chat show that began in 1971 and had its final episode in 2007. Parkinson’s avuncular and warm style endeared him to both audiences and guests in the UK, and when he died at the age of 88 last year, the tributes from across the entertainment industrywere numerous and fulsome.
“[I] really wanted to it to be clear [to listeners] it was an AI iteration,” Mike Parkinsontold BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding that Deep Fusion co-creators Ben Field and Jamie Anderson “are 100% very ethical in their approach towards it, they are very aware of the legal and ethical issues, and they will not try to pass this off as real.”
Which is all fair enough, though it is rather eliding the question of how Parkinson senior may have felt about this. There’s also the rather more fraught matter of whether anyone anywhere actually wants this stuff. Michael Parkinson was a great interviewer not because of his voice, but because of who he was, the personality that allowed him to put guests at ease and judge when he could push a question, or how to frame a difficult subject. I find it easy enough to believe that an AI can mimic some of his speech patterns, but I very much doubt it will capture anything of the man’s human qualities.
The podcast arrives as such uses of AI are increasingly bleeding into the mainstream. Last week brought an egregious example in the form of a Polish radio station using AIs tointerview the ghost of dead Nobel-winner, Wisława Szymborska, with three quirky zoomers (who don’t exist). Amazingly enough, people were horrified rather than pleased.
“The AI Michael is not replacing a presenter, it is a new podcast where Sir Michael’s legacy has continued,” says Jamie Anderson. “So it’s not taking away a presenter’s job.” But that doesn’t seem entirely the case, with Anderson going on to say that “these are brand new interviews. [The AI] is autonomous, so we let him start the interview and after that it is up to AI Sir Michael, who is trained on Sir Michael’s style and the interview questions. We can’t tell you the guests yet, we have a few slots remaining, but they are notable, noteworthy people.”
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Which is not, I think, something anyone sane would want. Michael Parkinson had a long, distinguished, and successful career: Do we really want some AI simulacra of the man churning out podcasts after his death?
Mike Parkinson’s counter is that “it’s a wonderful way of extending the life of someone who was an outlier and a unique talent of his generation.”
I can’t help but wonder who such products are even aimed at. Virtually Parkinson arrives at a time when living entertainers are unionising against AI across different entertainment industries: three months ago SAG-AFTRA, a union representing over 160,000 actors,declared a strikeover the terms and language used about AI in contracts. Last year the Writer’s Guild of Americascored its own major victory.
But there’s no putting this particular genie back in the bottle. Sir Michael Parkinson once said he “fought back tears” as the curtain came down on the final show bearing his name. Would it had stayed that way.
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Epic CEO Tim Sweeney says tech leaders are ‘pretending to be Republicans’ to gain favor with Trump, skirt antitrust laws, and ultimately ‘rip off consumers and crush competitors’
If you’re trying to convince me your ‘companionship’ robot is ‘lifelike’, maybe don’t rip her face off in the demo video
Square Enix launches new anti-harassment policy to protect its employees and partners from abusive fans
The Sims begins its 25th anniversary celebration next week with a Behind The Sims episode of news and announcements
Path of Exile 2 numberlord spends 16 straight days killing rare monsters to prove that a stat that makes loot better makes better loot
Palestinian developer raises more than $200,000 to make Dreams on a Pillow, a game about the horrors of the 1948 Nakba
Piranha Games will lay off employees after Mechwarrior 5: Clans ‘performed below projections’
Marvel Rivals’ latest update quietly killed the game’s burgeoning mod scene
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