Fly FM AI DJs not as hot as human ones, according to consumer complaints

Fly FM, an English radio station under parent company Media Prima Audio has seen its brand sentiment dip following its fully AI radio DJ crew taking over for a day. To drum up excitement for the takeover, which happened on 5 October, the studio launched a new social media campaign spanning Instagram reels that eventually led to an AI takeover after Fly FM DJs found themselves locked out of the studio.

According to comments seen on Fly FM’s Instagram account, many were unhappy to find out they would have to tune into AI DJs instead of the human radio personalities they have grown to love and expect. A number also pointed out that they will be unfollowing the Instagram account and have stopped listening to the radio station following the introduction of AI DJs. In fact, Fly FM only recently introduced AI DJs on the air with Aina Sabrina's radio show “Calpis with Aina”, which airs on weekdays from 2 to 4 PM.

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“We knew having AI vs humans would be polarising, and the sentiment that most listeners would prefer our real announcers is positive for us,” said a representative at Media Prima Audio. “As a brand, it was part of a radio stunt, and we are pleased with the outcome that audiences still love our Fly FM team, and that we don’t have to switch to an all-AI radio team," they added.

Despite its efforts, brand sentiments for the station plummeted. According to media intelligence company CARMA, net sentiment skewed negative on 5 October when the fully AI DJ shows happened. Prior to 5 October, Fly FM had also experienced positive net sentiment for three weeks.

Adding on, media intelligence firm dataxet:nama explained that a majority of the conversation online focuses on the innovative aspects of AI DJs with a less than 2% minority of netizens bemoaning the replacement of AI technology without human intervention. Interestingly, some members of the public were not aware of the station’s AI DJs.

In a conversation with A+M, the representative from Media Prima Audio said there are no plans to introduce more AI DJ radio shows with Aina Sabrina continuing to host the weekday show which is in collaboration with Japanese cultured milk drink brand Calpis.

“The advent of AI and the various tools and software are constantly evolving and will eventually provide a more authentic AI DJ on radio experience,” the representative added.

The brand aimed to test its capabilities with a fully functional radio station with AI DJs but also agreed that AI talents are unable to replace human talents whose distinct personalities and relatability are hard to duplicate for now at least.

Despite this dip in negative sentiment, AI DJs might still become a possibility as a survey by Capgemini Research Institute found that across the border, 70% of Singaporean consumers, compared to 73% of consumers globally, trust content created by generative AI. This spans many aspects of life, from financial planning and medical diagnosis, to even relationship advice.

It was also found that 70% of consumers globally use generative AI tools to seek recommendations for new products and services and that 65% of Singaporean consumers, compared to 64% globally, are open to making purchases based on these recommendations.

The survey found that consumers who use generative AI frequently are most satisfied with chatbots, gaming, and search use cases, however, generative AI platforms are also being used for personal, day-to-day activities and consumers seem to trust AI for these activities as well. 

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