iHeartMedia, Implementing a ‘Guaranteed Human’ Policy, Hears America’s Call To Silence AI Voices

iHeartMedia, whose broadcasts reach nine out of 10 Americans every month, is instituting a “Guaranteed Human” policy. It’s the first in the industry to limit the use of AI, reflecting the appetite of listeners who prefer and trust live commentators over computer-generated ones.“There goes your freedom of choice,” Tom Petty sings in “The Last DJ,” his 2002 song with the Heartbreakers. “There goes the last human voice.” Skip ahead to 2025, and a world where hosts are obsolete is fast approaching. AI can read news scripts and do commercials, deliver commentary and answer questions.iHeart, where this columnist has worked since 2000 when it was Clear Channel, cited polling data for its decision to go all human, all the time. The results recalled the way Americans in the Industrial Revolution rooted for the folk hero, John Henry. To prove that man couldn’t be replaced by machine, he raced against a steam-powered drill and won.Ninety percent of those iHeart surveyed “want their media created by real humans.” Ninety-two percent “say nothing can replace human connection,” up 16 points in ten years. “Nine in ten say human trust can’t be replicated by AI,” and 82 percent “worry about” the technology’s “impact on society.”Alpha Media’s KBFF at Portland, Oregon, experimented with cloning a host, Ashley Elzing, in 2023, introducing AI Ashley to their audience. “Most listeners,” the company’s vice president of content at the time, Phil Becker, posted in July on LinkedIn, “assumed we were already using AI.”Mr. Becker recalled that “parts of the radio industry were frothing about how I was supposedly ushering in its demise.” Alpha Media “gave us room to try, room to take risk.” He wrote that he’d “go bigger now: AI-hosted videos, podcasts, visual art, side-channel content, maybe even a robot in a station van giving out merch.”Heralded when she arrived, AI Ashley was switched off without fanfare this summer. KBFF “decided,” John Mamola wrote at Barrett Media in May, “to pivot away from artificial intelligence in favor of a human being.” They gave no reason for the change, but Mr. Mamola called it “a major success” for flesh-and-blood broadcasters.At Saga Communications, they employ AI speech for things like promos, voiceovers, and ad jingles on their 113 AM/FM stations. Their CEO, Chris Forgy, told Barrett Media in July that “utilizing AI saved about 10 people who otherwise would have lost their jobs,” but they don’t use AI broadcasters.iHeart is hoping to preserve jobs and quality with its “Guaranteed Human” pledge, which drew support from 96 percent of those polled. With support like that, no accelerated computer processing speed was needed to crunch the numbers. The decision was obvious: Give listeners what they want.“We don’t use AI-generated personalities,” iHeart’s chief programming officer, Tom Poleman, wrote in a staff memo authorized for public release. “We don’t play AI music that features synthetic vocalists pretending to be human. And the podcasts we publish are also Guaranteed Human.”iHeart, Mr. Poleman said, will rely on AI tools for “efficiency” behind the scenes, just as 70 percent of those it polled said they use the technology, too. But the airwaves are off limits. “When listeners interact with us,” he said, “they know they’re connecting with real voices, real stories, and real emotion. That’s our superpower.”The titular host of the “Erick Erickson Show,” syndicated by Compass Media Networks, expressed to The New York Sun his support for “Guaranteed Human.” Mr. Erickson recalled how this columnist’s former host, Rush Limbaugh, impressed upon him that success in radio relies on forging a personal connection.“Your breath, your pause, your tempo,” Mr. Erickson said, “everything is processed by the listener to build a relationship and center emotions around something he cannot see. AI cannot do that because it is soulless. A ‘No AI’ position for ‘the most intimate form of media,’ as Rush called radio, is a wise idea.”iHeart is a heavyweight in the broadcast industry, and its move ensures that the human voice — often called the most beautiful instrument — will be standard on its 850 radio stations and thousands of podcasts. “Sometimes,” Mr. Poleman said, “you have to pick a side; we’re on the side of humans.”

iHeartMedia, Implementing a ‘Guaranteed Human’ Policy, Hears America’s Call To Silence AI Voices

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