This in-depth piece from Rolling Stone Magazine is worth a read, despite its length. It asked current radio personalities their thoughts about the coming of Artificial Intelligence hosts, and what it may mean for their future in the business. 

Oddly, one of the stations that pioneered the idea - putting on a copy of a real female announcer on their overnight run - has removed the bot after two years, declaring it an interesting experiment that had run its course. In another thread posted here, you can hear what a British A.I.-only traffic report sounds like. 

For now, A.I. only works if it has something to "train" it. So jocks have been approached to have their voices cloned, so they can be used in a very different kind of machine language. And a few - shall we charitably call them avaricious? - owners are trying to get employees to give up what makes them unique on air. 

"In a document shared with Rolling Stone, Audacy — which owns more than 200 stations around the country — asked an undetermined number of on-air employees to sign a contract that would give the company the rights, “in perpetuity,” to create “a computer-generated electronic representation or digital replica that is readily identifiable as the voice or visual likeness of Employee,” among other things.

Audacy declined to comment, but according to a source close to the situation, it is “not the company’s policy to clone or replicate a talent’s voice without their permission, and the company has no plans to do so without their specific permission.”

The fact they're asking is enough for concern - but what happens when that turns into a condition of employment?

Still, there are those, like the P.D. of an Iowa rock station, who believe this will never completely catch on. 

“I can see the guys in the corner offices drooling over this, but people bond with DJs. You can’t create that with AI.”

It's a very interesting story and you can read it here.