Robots run the show as Swiss radio station tests AI voices for a day

Three months in the making, the French-language station Couleur 3 in Switzerland is touting a one-day experiment using cloned voices of five real, human presenters.

The voices sound like well-known personalities, the music features trendy dance beats and hip-hop syncopations, and the jokes and laughter are contagious. But listeners of an offbeat Swiss public radio station repeatedly got the message on Thursday: Today's programming is brought to you by Artificial Intelligence.

Three months in the making, the French-language station Couleur 3 (Colour 3) is touting a one-day experiment using cloned voices of five real, human presenters -- in what managers claim is a world first -- and never-aired-before music composed almost entirely by computers, not people. From 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., the station said, AI controlled its airwaves. Every 20 minutes, listeners got a reminder.

With an eerie, Sci-Fi movie-like track whirring in the background, a soothing, raspy female voice said: "AI is taking your favourite radio by storm."

"For 13 hours, our digital alter egos have taken the reins, broadcasting their voices and their messages across the airwaves, without mercy or respite," the voice said, at times almost taunting listeners. "The boundaries between human and machine have been blurred, and it's up to you to unravel what's real and what's fake."

"Our voice clones and AI are here to unsettle, surprise and shake you. And for that matter, this text was also written by a robot."

The explosive emergence of ChatGPT last autumn and other "Generative AI" tools have caused a stir -- and often fear, confusion, fascination, laughter, or worry -- about the long-term economic, cultural, social and even political consequences. Some musicians have complained that AI has ripped off their styles.

In the face of such recalcitrance, the Swiss station, which falls under the umbrella of public broadcaster Radio Television Switzerland, notes the concerns about AI -- and embraces and seeks to de-mystify it.