As futurists and journalists publish their pieces about ChatGPT, I devour the details while, deep inside, I reserve a modicum of healthy skepticism.
Like you, I’ve played with ChatGPT for hours, and it really does seem to be the next big leap in the information age. Microsoft’s Bing appears poised — finally! — to compete with Google Search, which is a minor miracle in itself. However, rather than attempt to predict the impact, I’d like to take a look at how radio can connect to this technology now, in the moment.
Chat through artificial intelligence is such a compelling topic for 2023, a key subject for your on-air staff to talk about and to use as a tool to entertain and inform your audience. Morning-show producers should be creating regular segments that utilize this AI for amusement and enlightenment. Combine it with voice AI, or use a text reader to deliver AI results.
We already know that ChatGPT can write songs, poetry and give advice. Music trivia is fast, fun and fairly accurate.
Then there’s a pile of other uses, starting with so many questions about adaptability!
Will we soon be able to generate a script for a reliable local newscast? If so, will we be violating copyright? Would an artificial co-host of a morning show be a cool stunt — or a new team member? Is talk radio ready for a segment hosted by opinionated artificial intelligence? Or will that voice use racist, misogynist or other horrible material easily found on the internet?
This is a new frontier ready to be explored now, but possibly discarded as it becomes commonplace, disliked or shown to be consistently unreliable.
[Read More Radio World Stories About Artificial Intelligence]
While the ChatGPT I’ve played with is not ready to write full promos, put together guest lists for shows or reliably suggest hot topics for discussion, it can function as a quick idea-generator for talent and producers in creative mode. Important note: I had ChatGPT write morning-show promos and they came out generic because the bot couldn’t find specifics on my test station’s website. Poor data in equals the same thing out. As listeners use AI for their own answers, remember to keep your website information accurate and updated consistently, so bots can deliver precise information.
The company Radio Workflow is already using AI to write advertising copy for radio. By the time you read this, perhaps there will be an AI company offering engineering solutions to help with repair, installations, maintenance and more.
Of course there is an ugly side. The New York Times had this from Gordon Crovitz, co-chief of Newsguard: “Crafting a false narrative can now be done at dramatic scale, and much more frequently — it’s like having AI agents contributing to disinformation.”
And what does ChatGPT think of itself? The response: “As an A.I. language model, I do not have personal opinions or emotions. I am designed to provide helpful and accurate information to assist with answering questions and generating text. My abilities are limited to what I have been trained on and do not extend to self-reflection.”
Thank YOU, Mr. Spock. … Or should that be Lt. Commander Data?
As always, drop me an email and let me know what you think to [email protected].
