Radio station slammed for pretending show is hosted by Asian woman

Metro

25-04-2025

A radio station has come under fire after it was uncovered that a show it claimed was being hosted by an Asian woman was actually an AI-generated persona.
This week it was revealed that for six months a show on Sydney's CADA station, which is owned by the Australian Radio Network (ARN), was being hosted by artificial intelligence.
Up until then, the station had claimed the four-hour weekday show Workdays with Thy was being hosted by a woman called Thy, sharing images of her to promote the programme too.
According to the CADA website, listeners can tune into Thy's show from 11am to 3pm during the working week.
However, it turns out that wasn't the case at all and Thy is not real.
The deception was first uncovered by journalist Stephanie Coombs, who wrote about her suspicions in her newsletter The Carpet.
In her article, Coombs detailed how after receiving a tip-off about 'Thy' she did some digging and discovered that there were no additional details about her, only one image could be found of her and that she had absolutely no social media presence.
Several sources at the station also confirmed they'd never even heard of Thy.
Coombs' suspicions were later confirmed by ARN, who said in a statement to Mediaweek they were 'always exploring how new technology can support great content and enhance the listener experience'.
It continued: 'As part of this, we've been trialling AI audio tools on CADA using the voice of Thy, an ARN team member.
'This is a space being explored by broadcasters globally, and while the trial has offered valuable insights, it's also reinforced the unique value that personalities bring to creating truly compelling content.'
Speaking to Metro, Coombs said she was 'deeply concerned about the use of Generative AI in the media, particularly when it's not disclosed to the audience'.
'The public shouldn't have to become detectives in order to determine whether the personality on their radio or television is human. Especially when those stations have a Government-issued broadcast licence.'
She went on to share this felt like a 'watershed' moment for media and called for 'urgent reform' to ensure audiences are adequately informed about what is, and isn't, AI.
Coombs also slammed the station for appearing to have a woman of colour as part of its on-air talent.
After going on to look into ARN's three major radio brands across Australia – KISS, GOLD and CADA – she discovered that across nine stations there was 'only one person who outwardly presents as diverse' and that was Thy.
'You'd think that, along the line of this being okayed, at least one highly-paid person would point out that it's pretty bad optics if the only multicultural host on your entire network is actually AI. Moreover, giving this avatar a name which rhymes with AI is not clever, and people would likely be very angry or very offended if they found out,' she wrote in her initial report.
'It's hard to imagine how any company – let alone a media company – could be this out of touch.'
Coombs was also told that Thy's voice and likeness were based on a real ARN employee who works in the company's finance department.
Teresa Lim, the vice president of the Australian Association of Voice Actors, also called out ARN for its actions.
'I felt deceived that CADA had been broadcasting for six months, when she was actually a synthetic text-to-speech voice the entire time,' she explained.
'There was no transparency from ARN the entire time that it was a trial program, with no real host presenting the show.'
Speaking about the fact the station also used an image of an Asian woman, she called the move 'extremely disappointing'.
'She is currently the ONLY Asian presenter on their entire national network… and she's not even real. There is a minority of many real, Asian female broadcasters who are available for this role in person,' she said. More Trending
'This move by ARN is offensive to our Asian community. Further, the actual girl's name is a normal, English name. The fact that they deliberately chose to give her a Vietnamese on-air name was a tokenistic grab for diversity.'
Addressing the ethics of using AI and not making audiences aware of the decision, Lim said a lack of rules being implemented could result in 'entire airwaves of unregulated AI voices, with no transparency across the board'.
'This case should mark a point of change in radio broadcasting, where we start correctly disclosing use of AI personas, voice doubles and clones,' she added.
Metro has contacted ARN for comment.
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