Australian Radio Station's AI DJ 'Thy' Goes Unnoticed for Months, Sparking Controversy

An AI-generated radio host in Australia went unnoticed for months

Emma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. For months, a popular Australian radio station has used an AI-generated DJ to host one of its segments -- and no one seemed to notice, as reported by the newsletter The Carpet and the Australian Financial Review. The show, called Workdays with Thy, offers a four-hour mix of hip hop, R&B, and pop, with no indication that the voice of its host, Thy, is AI-generated. Workdays with Thy is broadcast on the Sydney radio station CADA. Its owner, ARN Media, confirmed to the Financial Review that while Thy is AI-generated, the host's voice and likeness are modeled after an actual employee in the company's financial department. Thy's voice was reportedly created with the AI voice generator ElevenLabs. Neither CADA's website nor the show itself discloses that its host is AI-generated. "Curated by our music experts, these are the songs that are charting or on the cusp of blowing up -- hear it first with Thy so you can boast to your friends and say you were all over it first," the show's description says. This isn't the only recent instance of AI-generated content seemingly going unnoticed. After debuting an AI-generated Microsoft Surface ad in January, the company only now revealed its use of AI. As reported by the Financial Review, Workdays with Thy first appeared on CADA's website in November 2024, and its ratings suggest it "reaches at least 72,000 people." Teresa Lim, the vice president of the Australian Association of Voice Actors, slammed ARN Media's failure to disclose the use of an AI host. "Australian listeners deserve honesty and upfront disclosure instead of a lack of transparency leading them to trust a fake person they think is a real on-air person," Lim wrote on LinkedIn. "We're trying to understand what's real and what's not," ARN CEO Ciaran Davis told the Financial Review. "What we've learned is the power of the announcers we have."

Australian Radio Station Used AI DJ For Months Before Being Discovered - Decrypt

The station had not initially disclosed Thy was created using artificial intelligence. An Australian radio station is facing backlash after admitting that one of its popular on-air hosts, Thy, is actually an AI-generated DJ. Thy, who hosts the daily "Workdays with Thy" show on Sydney-based CADA, was developed using technology from ElevenLabs. The station had not disclosed that Thy was artificial, according to a report by The Sydney Morning Herald. "Every weekday from 11 am-3 pm while you are at work, driving around, doing the commute on public transport or at uni, Thy will be playing you the hottest tracks from around the world," the Workdays with Thy show notes said. "Workdays with Thy" has been on the air since November. While the AI's voice and likeness are based on an actual ARN Media employee, CADA said the show's music is curated by "music experts." The station does not mention the use of AI in its show description. "Workdays with Thy" is just the latest in a series of radio shows hosted by AIs. In 2023, Portland, Oregon-based FBFF Live 95.5 introduced AI Ashley, an AI version of its human host, Ashley Elzinga. However, unlike Thy, AI Ashley was disclosed to be AI from the start. "Workdays with Thy" has reached 72,000 listeners as of March, CADA reported, and it's not the only Australian radio station using AI DJs; others include Melbourne-based Disrupt Radio and its host Debbie Disrupt. San Francisco-based ElevenLabs, launched in January 2023, is an AI audio company offering advanced tools for text-to-speech, voice cloning, and multilingual dubbing in over 30 languages. Prominent examples of ElevenLabs technology in action include collaborations with the estates of iconic actors Jimmy Stewart, Burt Reynolds, and Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia. "The purpose of these iconic voices is to add a deeper and new level of immersive experience to listening and reading the content," ElevenLabs Head of Partnership Dustin Blank previously told Decrypt. "It's a different kind of experience that we're doing with these iconic voices that hopefully our users enjoy." The use of artificial intelligence in music has surged in recent years, with programs now capable of composing songs and mimicking even the voices of long-deceased entertainers. As the technology becomes more sophisticated, it is not just creating music -- it's also beginning to replace the personalities who present it.

Major radio station admits secretly using AI host

Sydney radio station CADA has come under fire after it emerged the station is using a fake host created with artificial intelligence to present a four-hour weekday show. CADA, a station owned by the Australian Radio Network (ARN), has been broadcasting the weekday afternoon show Workdays with Thy across western Sydney and through the iHeartRadio app since November 2024. "Every weekday from 11am to 3pm while you are at work, driving around, doing the commute on public transport or at uni, Thy will be playing you the hottest tracks from around the world," the show's description reads. "Curated by our music experts, these are the songs that are charting or on the cusp of blowing up - hear it first with Thy so you can boast to your friends and say you were all over it first. "We're talking the newest in Hip Hop, R&B but as well as the best in Pop and Dance." Last week, journalist Stephanie Coombes from The Carpet received a tip-off that "Thy" may in fact be an AI avatar. Coombes pointed out that the enigmatic "Thy" had no social media profiles and unlike other presenters on CADA, lacked a last name or a biography on the station's website. In a major update, a spokesperson for ARN confirmed suspicions that Thy is not a real person. "We've been trialling AI audio tools on CADA, using the voice of Thy, an ARN team member," the spokesperson said in a statement. "This is a space being explored by broadcasters globally, and the trial has offered valuable insights." The spokesperson also noted that the trial highlighted "the power of real personalities in driving compelling content". Reportedly, the voice and photo for "Thy" are based on a real ARN employee who works in the station's finance department. The update comes months after billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates warned that AI technology will usher in a new era he calls "free intelligence". "It's very profound and even a little bit scary - because it's happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound," Gates said in February.