My friend Chris sent me this today. An article from the good people at Broadcast Dialogue on traditional radio giant Rogers Media (Canada) testing out “FUTURI” – AI software that can do everything from hosting long-form radio shows to running your entire radio station, including music and commercials while it scans and prepares content delivered by a computer generated voice.

The Simpsons predicted this 16 years ago. DJ-3000 is here, and it’s very fucking real.

Broadcast Dialogue: Rogers Sports & Media is beta testing new AI voice tech from broadcast solutions provider, Futuri, capable of training artificial intelligence to power a station’s on-air programming in its entirety.

RadioGPT, billed as the world’s first AI-driven localized radio content solution, combines GPT-3 search and conversation tech with Futuri’s AI-driven social content system, TopicPulse, and AI voice tech to provide a localized radio experience that can be adapted for any market or format. 

TopicPulse, which Futuri first introduced in 2017, scans Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more than 250,000 other sources for news and information, identifying which topics are trending in a local market. RadioGPT leverages TopicPulse to create a script for on-air use. AI-generated voices then turn that script into audio. The tech can be modified to include multiple AI voices co-hosting the same show or be trained using the voices of existing personalities.  

Futuri says human input is required when working to configure shows, but RadioGPT does the rest. Currently available for English-speaking formats, a demo currently running at RadioGPT.ai shows off the tech using a Classic Hits format for the fictional market of “Springfield.”

“As early AI innovators in the broadcast space, it’s only natural that we’re bringing the incredible power of GPT-3 technology, paired with groundbreaking technology like TopicPulse, to radio,” said Futuri CEO Daniel Anstandig. “The ability for broadcasters to use RadioGPT to localize their on-air content in a turnkey fashion opens up resources for them to deepen their important home-field advantages in new and unique ways.”

RadioGPT is also capable of generating social posts, blogs, and other content for digital platforms related to on-air content in real-time, including a “TopicPulse Instant Video add-on” which can create AI-driven short videos. Futuri’s POST AI-enabled podcasting system additionally can auto-publish broadcast audio for on-demand use. 

Beta partners testing the platform right now include Alpha Media in the U.S. and Rogers Sports & Media in Canada.

“We already use Futuri’s TopicPulse technology across some of our stations and are excited to be part of the exploratory testing of this innovative RadioGPT technology and see the new opportunities it presents to entertain and inform our audiences,” a Rogers Sports & Media spokesperson told Broadcast Dialogue, without disclosing how many of its stations are involved in the beta program.

Spotify test drives ‘AI DJ’

The Futuri launch comes the same week Spotify announces AI DJ, a personalized guide that selects songs complementary to your listening history. Rolling out in beta for English-language Spotify Premium users in the U.S. and Canada, AI DJ relies on Generative AI put in the hands of Spotify editors.

Spotify’s AI DJ is a personal DJ that’s highly customizable and it’s going to kick the living shit out of mass-programmed content on the radio.  Radio’s Chat GPT “Futuri” has already lost to on-demand no matter where it is.

“Futuri’s” only advantage is program cost and labor savings because Radio is still dead tech and no one listens to it anymore.

Ask a Spotify user if they want a comforting voice encouraging them to listen to whatever they want on-demand or if they want “Futuri” telling them how long they have to wait for the next song or the news or a joke told by a computer. This won’t be radio making radio better for the listener. It’s Radio making it cheaper for them to stay alive until they decide it’s too expensive to support something no one uses anymore.

It’s over. Radio, like print journalism, was toast years ago but this announcement is akin to a cemetery worker laying the last piece of sod on the grave.

I hope a few of you Rogers Radio folks have side hustles.

DB