Ireland AM broadcasts ‘world-first AI inspired show’ to ‘very weird’ results

"The world's first AI morning show is here and it's very weird."

Ireland AM woke up the nation this morning (14 December) with what it dubbed a "world-first AI-inspired show". Ahead of its airing, Virgin Media Ireland explained that the special episode was "shaped entirely by input from ChatGPT and Google Bard", two of the world’s most popular AI content generation platforms. "From the formatting and content of the show to the scriptwriting and interviews, AI will be doing the thinking for us from 7am – 10am," it said, adding that the goal of the show was to see "what unique and imaginative content" the capabilities of AI could create. Posting clips of the resulting episode on its Twitter, Ireland AM later confessed that the AI experiment was "very weird". Guiding presenters Tommy Bowe, Muireann O’Connell, Alan Hughes and Deric Hartigan through the show was a virtual avatar named Conor. O'Connell in particular struggled to keep a straight face on account of Conor's stilted dialogue and unnatural hand movement.

The world's first AI morning show is here and it's very weird ?

We meet our virtual friend... Connor #IrelandAM pic.twitter.com/7JQxaKaZP1 — Ireland AM (@IrelandAMVMTV) December 14, 2023

Ireland AM broadcasts 'world-first AI inspired show' to 'very weird results'

Then another part of the programme saw a slightly different looking Bowe interviewing Irish country star Cliona Hagan. Only after the fact was it revealed that it was not in fact Bowe but Virgin Media Sport presenter Will Dalton who had been AI generated to resemble the rugby player turned presenter.

Is Tommy looking a bit strange this morning…? ?

This morning’s Ireland AM was fully scripted & produced by AI ?#IrelandAM pic.twitter.com/FS98vIvfUk — Ireland AM (@IrelandAMVMTV) December 14, 2023

It is safe to say that the public's reception to the episode was mixed.

#IrelandAM Lads this AI is awful.Terrible viewing.

— mick hanlon (@canukicit) December 14, 2023

Ireland AM gleefully talking about how the entire show has been written/researched/directed etc by AI. Insane television that I swear you’d only get in Ireland

Welcome to hell, to actual hell — EAMO (@EamoV1) December 14, 2023

Fantastic if @IrelandAMVMTV @TommyBowe make a lovely laugh out of the very thing that’s going to take their jobs https://t.co/Avsn8FAAWz

— Chris McNulty (@ChrisMcNultyDgl) December 14, 2023

Anthony Nilan, Head of Content Strategy at Virgin Media Television, said of the episode ahead of its airing:

"This AI curated show is about using current accessible versions of artificial intelligence tools and giving our viewers, presenters, and production team a taste of what it is capable of and how it could potentially assist us. "It also ensures that Ireland AM is best placed to ask the important questions and give real insight into the emerging technology as it develops further."

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