Speculation on AI’s impact on human employment is rampant, but concrete examples of replacing humans with AI remain rare. But it is a major concern (last year’s Hollywood Strike is one example), and Tech.co provides a list of companies where it seems this is already happening (Google, Ikea, and Salesforce, to name just three). Now, a Polish radio station’s experiment with AI-generated hosts—brief as it was—provides another glimpse into how AI might shape public-facing roles, particularly in media and entertainment.
Off Radio Kraków described the project on Facebook:
This is the first experiment in Poland in which [three] journalists – Emi, Kuba, and Alex – are virtual characters created by AI, and still, they cover topics that affect us all: music, culture, technology, and everyday life.
They became, in essence, a virtual version of the station’s former human hosts, seemingly an innocuous attempt to keep a station going in an increasingly digital landscape.
This started out as a limited, localized story—a small experiment on the fringes of media. However, the public’s reaction was far from mild, underscoring people’s discomfort when seeing AI replace human interaction in unexpected places.
Polish Radio Station Abandons Use of AI’ Presenters’
From the Associated Press:
A Polish radio station said Monday that it has ended an “experiment” that involved using AI-generated “presenters” instead of real journalists after the move sparked an outcry.
Weeks after dismissing its journalists, OFF Radio Krakow relaunched last week using virtual characters created by AI as its presenters.
Across Poland, people were angry, expressing fears that humans were being replaced by AI.
The station’s editor, Marcin Pulit, said in a statement Monday that the aim had been to spark a debate about artificial intelligence, and that it had succeeded. He said the experiment had been meant to last three months but that it saw no reason to go on.
‘After a week, we had collected so many observations, opinions, and conclusions that we decided that its continuation was pointless,’ Pulit wrote.
He said the station was ‘surprised by the level of emotion that accompanied this experiment, attributing to us non-existent intentions and actions, harsh judgments formulated on the basis of false reports.’
The radio station’s project to replace humans with AI got nationwide attention after Mateusz Demski, a journalist and former host on the station, launched an online petition calling for the end of the project and decrying the “replacement of employees with artificial intelligence.”
The Story Gets More Complicated
There are varying press accounts of the background to the story. Some offered a more sensationalized version that the radio station had fired its own on-air presenters and immediately replaced humans with AI. Others (including the AP) said the station had already shut down and was trying to reopen with the new AI presenters. An online petition against the AI project quickly gathered 23,000 signatures and brought it to a close. Either way, the experiment quickly backfired, and the AI presenters are now out of work (not that this is especially troubling if you are only an AI-generated character).

As if that wasn’t enough, there was also a backlash to one of the AI presenters “interviewing” Wisława Szymborska, the Nobel Prize-winning poet who died in 2012. In effect, an AI presenter was pitted against an AI recreation of Szymborska’s voice – an AI interviewing another AI. It evoked ethical concerns about posthumous digital facsimiles, which Hollywood actors and others are deeply worried about.
How Far Will We Tolerate Replacing Humans with AI?
This brief AI experiment at the Polish radio station taps into larger, more complex questions. The real issue is not simply one of jobs but the essence of human interaction in sectors where personality, empathy, and genuine engagement matter. We’ve had massive technological disruption before—the automobile’s swift replacement of horse-drawn transport by 1920. We still have people who work with horses, but the automobile’s arrival in the early 1900s decimated the field of horse breeders, trainers, and managers.
At the time, few people mourned their disappearance. If you traveled around New York City or any other urban area in 1900, you just needed a horse and carriage. You likely didn’t interact with the many thousands who ensured that an effective transportation system was available. It was the same with the later technological advances in the telephone system. Operators were occasionally fun to talk with, but their replacement by automated switching systems only speeded up calls.
We’re already seeing something similar with AI seeping into customer service areas. We suspect that many people would rather interact with an AI representative who provided quick and accurate answers than wait on hold for a human being who may or may not offer equal quality of service.
Of course, it gets more complex than these examples reveal. The American fast casual restaurant chain Sweetgreen has been planning on implementing robotic salad makers that – in the company’s words – would free up staff to interact with customers. It’s a familiar narrative: AI will allow for more human-to-human connection while a machine prepares your lunch. And surely, chopping lettuce and scooping out bowls of tomatoes and avocados all day is mind-numbing. But we all know how that goes. Paying workers to spend free time with customers becomes one of the first things to chop when budgets tighten.
Will AI Redefine Human Work or Eliminate It?
Honestly, we’re surprised there is not more concern about replacing humans with AI. For now, the shift might seem slow and incremental, but as we’ve seen with past disruptions, change can arrive with startling speed. Automobiles outnumbered horses in New York City within ten years of their introduction (by 1912), and horses on the city’s streets entirely disappeared by 1920. It’s conceivable that AI will displace entire categories of human work within the next two decades.
Or less. Depending on how quickly generative AI progresses.
The Polish radio station and its AI presenters are simply a minor blip in the complex interaction of AI and human work. But they clearly struck a nerve with the public that remains concerned about the displacement of humans in roles where we still expect warmth, authenticity, and spontaneity. We will likely see many more similar situations as generative AI becomes increasingly sophisticated.
Are you fearful for your job in the future? Are your students wondering about their career prospects? Let us know what you think!
Emory Craig is a writer, speaker, and consultant specializing in virtual reality (VR) and generative AI. With a rich background in art, new media, and higher education, he is a sought-after speaker at international conferences. Emory shares unique insights on innovation and collaborates with universities, nonprofits, businesses, and international organizations to develop transformative initiatives in XR, GenAI, and digital ethics. Passionate about harnessing the potential of cutting-edge technologies, he explores the ethical ramifications of blending the real with the virtual, sparking meaningful conversations about the future of human experience in an increasingly interconnected world.