Planet Money - AI Takes Our Jobs :-(

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More than two centuries ago, the Luddites rose up against the textile machines that were disrupting their industry. But, today, Planet Money is taking a different tack with the machines that are disrupting our industry. We’re embracing them, and broadcasting to the world their potential to do our jobs.

In a new three-part series about Artificial Intelligence, we follow reporters Kenny Malone and Jeff Guo on their quest to use AI tools to create an entire Planet Money episode from scratch.

Lionel Bonaventure/Getty Images

In episode one, we hear how AI did research, formulated interview questions, pulled sound bites from those interviews, and wrote an entire script for an upcoming show.

Okay, so it didn’t do this all by itself. It took lots of guidance from Kenny and Jeff. And, even with that, it made some pretty big mistakes, including spitting out untrue statements. Nonetheless, the results were pretty good, and it suggests, at the very least, that AI could be harnessed to make us much more productive at our jobs — or, maybe, gulp, one day replace us all together.

But, of course, podcasting requires real-deal human voices, right? Wrong! In episode two, Kenny and Jeff work with an AI voice generator to clone the voice of former Planet Money host Robert Smith. So not only was this show written by AI, it’s co-hosted by it too!

Finally, in episode three, it’s the big shebang — an episode made almost completely by AI. You can judge for yourself how good the technology is. Check it out!

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On Our Podcasts

Green energy gridlock — Lyle Jack wants to build a wind farm on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. But to make the project work, he has to connect that wind farm to the electric grid. Which is easier said than done. On today's show - how the green energy revolution may live, or die, by bureaucrats trying to untangle a mess of wires. Listen here

Economic forecasters on jobs, inflation and housing — It's time for another installment of ... Planet Money Predictions! *air horn.* Listen here

Bots, bootleggers and Baptists — A corporate titan and a cautious professor face off before Congress and ... agree with each other? From the ivory tower to inside the boardroom, the pressure campaign to regulate AI. The Indicator has the story. Listen here

Also on The Indicator: Is AI a job-killer or an up-skiller?; The Indicator Quiz: Banking Troubles; and Household debt, Home Depot sales and Montana's TikTok ban

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