A clip from The Masters of IBM’s Artificial Intelligence announcer “Watson” went viral Wednesday, and 94 WIP midday host Joe Giglio wasn’t amused.
In the video, IBM’s “Watson” announcer described the player, his age, nationality, and the location of his shot, before detailing where the shot landed.
“That is not a real person. That is artificial intelligence, everyone. That is not a real person, it’s a call from a computer,” Giglio said. “That’s freaking me out.”
“That’s what everyone is moving toward now,” co-host Hugh Douglas said. He added that many of the Instagram Reels he sees are AI voices meant to sound like celebrities, so he was more prepared for the sound of the computer announcing golf.
“Should we worry about this? Will one day AI take over WIP?” Giglio asked.
“Naw. The one thing about being live and local is we still have that human connection,” said Douglas. “Where else are you gonna get conversations about the names of sandwiches you can’t remember and someone has to remind you? You can’t get that through AI.”
“We have our opinions. AI could call a game. I wonder if the play-by-play will disappear,” Giglio questioned before wondering what a computer-generated voice of Merrill Reese would sound like.
Giglio continued by pointing out the rising cost of top-tier announcers could drive companies to create AI broadcasters.
“The more these play-by-play people get on TV, the more the network is gonna cut some costs one day. Doesn’t Joe Buck get like $20 million a year now? I think Joe Buck is awesome, but someday ESPN’s gonna be like ‘We can get this AI in for free’.”
