NBC to use AI clone of Al Michaels' voice for Paris Olympics: 'This has vast implications'

Television announcer Al Michaels watches the Houston Texans warm up before the Texans play the New England Patriots on Dec. 13, 2015, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas.
Television announcer Al Michaels watches the Houston Texans warm up before the Texans play the New England Patriots on Dec. 13, 2015, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Photo credit Scott Halleran/Getty Images

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — NBC has announced that it will use artificial intelligence to generate a clone of Al Michaels' voice for the 2024 Summer Olympics, in what may be one of the more visible examples of how far AI voice generators have progressed.

Shelly Palmer, CEO of the Palmer Group and a professor of Advanced Media in Residence at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, joined Andy Dahn on the WBBM Noon Business Hour to discuss.

Palmer said the decision has “vast implications for business, for our society, for politics, for messaging [and] communication.”

“I think you have to imagine that we are entering the era of social production, and whatever you think social media did to media — that is what social production is going to do to production,” he said. “You basically describe something you want, and AI will produce it for you, and this is going to get better and better every day.”

Hear Palmer’s full interview on the WBBM Noon Business Hour above.

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Featured Image Photo Credit: Scott Halleran/Getty Images