CrowdScience - Could AI present CrowdScience?
Download Could AI present CrowdScience?
CrowdScience listener Po wants to know whether AI could one day replace all human jobs. And while he requests that CrowdScience continues to be hosted by people, it made presenters Caroline Steel and Anand Jagatia wonder – could an AI really present this show?
To find out more about how AI models work and what they’re capable of, Caroline Steel speaks to AI journalist Alex Hern from The Economist. She creates an AI version of herself with Nicky Birch, Innovation Lead for the BBC’s generative AI program, and hears how the BBC is attempting to navigate the ethical use of this new technology.
Anand Jagatia speaks to phonetician Prof James Kirby about how synthetic AI voices have become so convincing, as well as why they still sound slightly unnatural. And Anand and Caroline ponder whether there could ever be a place for AI presenters on the airwaves.
Presenters: Caroline Steel and Anand Jagatia
Producer: Anand Jagatia
Additional production: Lorna Stewart
Editor: Ben Motley
(Photo: Mirror image of presenter Caroline holding microphone Credit: BBC)
Published on Friday, 27th March 2026.
Available Podcasts from CrowdScience
We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the CrowdScience webpage.