AI Use in Radio Must be Ethical and Accountable

RRI.CO.ID, Jakarta - The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in media, especially radio, needs to be ethical, transparent, and accountable. Human must also be involved in decision-making of AI-produced contents.

Andrew Davies, the Head of Radio at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) made the statement in an interview on "Radio and AI" with RRI Voice of Indonesia on Friday, 13 February 2026. He also mentioned the ABU's General Principles for the Use of AI in Broadcasting, which began with data security and sustainability.

Clarify What is What

Based on that, one of the ethical ways to use AI is by disclosing to the audience on which part of their content is AI or human-made. This applies to the use of AI in an audience-facing capacity.

Davies gave an example of a media in Malaysia which developed an AI DJ and KBR Korea using generative AI for a program on relationship between AI and humans. The two transparently disclosed their use of AI.

However, he also conveyed about a commercial company in Australia caught using an AI DJ in secret, causing controversy. Davies did not encourage this kind of practice.

Human Touch

Then, human needs to still be involved in deciding which can be put on air and not. "AI is a tool that can be used to help output or production or creativity, but it shouldn't replace human creativity or human judgment," Davies stated.

Davies said the strength of radio is still the real-human presenters and their personalities. He has also conveyed that AI DJ will not replace human presenter, for AI cannot provide the human connection in the matter.

This happened when a presenter is asking audience a question, and audience will respond straight away. This immediacy is still radio's strong point.

Other AI Use in Broadcatsing

Nevertheless, AI voices can still be used for shorter information, such as weather. However, this is closely limited to content with less personality, connection, and warmth required.

AI can also be used for audio enhancement such as to reduce noise. Davies also saw the use of text-based editing for audio.

Content repurposing is also easily done by using AI. From one interview, AI can help media in creating a lot of social media contents.

ABU's head of radio said AI is used mostly for regular task with media production. But, "It's not replacing human creativity or judgment, and I don't think it will any time soon," Davies said.