- A TV host was revealed to be AI-generated
- The stunt was part of the Channel 4 documentary Will AI take my job? shipments, which aired on October 20 in the UK
- Documentary examines how AI automation is reshaping the workplace and is now available to stream
There’s no doubt that the use of AI is on the rise in the world of entertainment and top streaming services, but British TV channel Channel 4 has taken it a step further by unveiling the UK’s first AI TV host.
In the new documentary Will AI take my job? shipments, which first aired on October 20, the presenter was revealed to be AI-generated in his closing moments. As our host tells us: “I’m not real. In a British TV first, I’m an AI host. Some of you may have guessed: I don’t exist, I wasn’t on the ground reporting this story. My image and voice were generated using AI.”
Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs, fact and sport specialist Louisa Compton added in a press release: “The use of an AI host is not something we will make a habit of at Channel 4 – instead our focus in news and current affairs is on premium, fact-checked, properly impartial and trusted journalism – something AI is incapable of doing.
“But this stunt serves as a useful reminder of how disruptive AI has the potential to be — and how easy it is to bait audiences with content they have no way of verifying.”
Yet it is potentially too little, too late for Channel 4 to present such a real danger and immediately withdraw it. Viewers are already comparing the experience to one Black mirror episode, and I’m not buying it as a one-off experiment.
Opinion: Channel 4’s AI TV host stunt is a lesson we need to learn, but do we want to?
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As one viewer said on X/Twitter: “A twist! I #Shipments! It’s like Black mirror!” They’re not wrong. The new documentary is made with more clever intentions and sly revelations than most TV shows or movies we’ve consumed in the last few years, and I think we’ll take the wrong message away from it.
It’s probably pretty clear by now, thanks to *gestures vaguely*, that we humans don’t have the best sense of judgment. As I wrote when AI actress Tilly Norwood started making waves in Hollywood, “I can’t help but think of the viral quote from Joanna Maciejewska when it comes to people like Tilly Norwood: ‘I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so I can make art and write, not for AI to make my art and write so I can do my laundry and dishes.’
Where is Norwood now, other than an old news item we’ve already forgotten, lost in the endless digital cycle of information? My best guess is that we’ll be outraged by Channel 4’s stunt for all of 30 total seconds before forgivingly moving on and forgetting it ever happened.
Honestly, it’s not good enough. Not only do we need to do more – industry people, media, audiences, a lot – to get the best possible balance of AI in entertainment, but this stunt has probably opened the door for more talent to be generated rather than hired. As Norwood and Channel 4 have proven, we are on the tip of a dangerous iceberg.
Look through any TechRadar coverage of my brilliant colleagues and you’ll find many exceptional uses of AI, in and out of creative fields. However, AI is not necessary when it comes to talent acquisition or documentary storytelling. In fact, I’d say it’s a case of less is more.
Let’s strive to make the lives of amazing creators easier when it comes to making the things we love… not obliterate them entirely. I have a feeling I’ll be saying it over and over for years to come until I’m blue in the face.
Will AI take my job? Shipments can be streamed on Channel 4 now in the UK, while international viewers will need a VPN to do so.
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