WORK

This experimental project, originating from the KBS Kyoto radio program "Gion Pickup Up!" sponsored by BASSDRUM, set out to explore the future of communication between humans and AI. Through two distinct content initiatives, the project investigated the creative and technical possibilities of combining radio with emerging technologies.

The first initiative was a radio drama series titled "Gion Pickup Story", collaboratively developed by humans and generative AIs including ChatGPT and Claude. These AIs contributed plot ideas and dialogue suggestions, which were then refined through human interaction. The final scripts were voiced by synthetic speech, resulting in a 20-episode series centered on Shota Asakura, a 17-year-old aspiring jazz musician.

The second was "AI Radio Station", an autonomous broadcasting experiment conducted during “SEEDS: Unreleased Prototypes Exhibition”, our first-ever showcase held in July 2024. In this experiment, two AIs, one acting as the director and the other as the host, worked in tandem to generate talk segments based on real-time environmental input captured by cameras. Using a combination of voice synthesis, a robotic arm, and other technologies, the broadcast was run entirely without human intervention, offering a glimpse into what a fully AI-driven radio program could be.

BASSDRUM led the project from concept planning and technology selection through to implementation and operation. We brought the theme of "radio meets technology" to life within the structure of a broadcast program. The project focused on how rapidly advancing AI technologies can intersect with human expression and sensibility, and how we might engage with these technologies in ways that allow for meaningful collaboration. Rather than simply using AI as a tool, we treated it as a conversation partner and member of the creative team. Through two content initiatives, we explored how the outlines of communication between humans and technology could be made visible.

In "Gion Pickup Story", we used multiple AI models to extract story ideas, which were then transformed into prompts through dialogue among human team members. These prompts formed the basis for story development. Script meetings conducted with the AI present generated a wide range of ideas, fueling the creative process. We also interviewed the main character, who had been designed by AI, to further develop the narrative. These interviews helped shape the script and guided prompt design to ensure consistency in the character’s tone and personality throughout the series.

In "AI Radio Station", we developed a system in which two AIs, one acting as the director and the other as the host, worked together to continue broadcasting without any human input. The director AI used a webcam to observe its surroundings and generated talk themes based on the captured environment. These themes were typed out using a robotic arm and passed to the host AI. The host created a script based on the received theme and delivered it into a microphone. This setup allowed the AIs to generate and respond to prompts autonomously, resulting in a fully self-operating radio broadcast with no human involvement. To implement this system, we combined a variety of tools and platforms to replicate a human broadcast environment for AI. The design allowed the AI to autonomously perform a full range of behaviors: observing, thinking, typing, and speaking.

Because these content initiatives were based on a weekly radio program, we established an R&D framework built around regular output. This ongoing process itself became a valuable ground for refining and developing our skills in technical direction.