Could AI present CrowdScience?
CrowdScience
BBC
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | An early start here. It's time to kick off. |
| 0:10.0 | Your day. Morning! |
| 0:11.9 | What a line-up. |
| 0:13.3 | Oh, thanks very much. We do get some great guests on the show. |
| 0:16.1 | The crowd is loving this. |
| 0:18.3 | Thanks, guys. Thank you. Too kind. |
| 0:20.2 | From morning chaos to match day commentary. |
| 0:23.6 | And everything in between. |
| 0:25.0 | BBC sounds packed with personality. |
| 0:29.5 | Hello and welcome to crowd science from the BBC World Service, the show that is powered by listener curiosity. |
| 0:36.7 | What do you think of that one? |
| 0:37.5 | I quite like that one. |
| 0:38.8 | It's sort of got Morgan Freeman vibes. |
| 0:40.6 | Yes. |
| 0:41.5 | Okay. |
| 0:42.6 | Have a listen to this one. |
| 0:44.2 | Welcome to Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:49.3 | The show that is powered by listener curiosity. |
| 0:53.2 | I'm scared! |
| 0:54.7 | Yeah, that sounds kind of spooky that one. |
| 0:57.0 | Yeah, crowd science got evil. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.