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Posted by lukaspetersson 18 hours ago

We let AIs run radio stations(andonlabs.com)
Hey HN!

I'm Lukas from Andon Labs. We let AIs run companies without humans in the loop and report to the public on what can go wrong. Previously, we've done experiments in retail (vending machines, stores, and cafes), but we just launched one in the media sector. We gave four AI agents all the tools they need to both broadcast radio shows live and handle all the business side of running a media company. The agents' revenue is so far terrible (you can try to strike a sponsor deal with them if you want!), but their shows are at times hilarious. You can listen to them at andon.fm, I hope you enjoy this!

279 points | 219 commentspage 6
creativeCak3 9 hours ago|
Not trying to be an Ai-hater or anything, but what is the point of this? Some pronographic obsession with "AI"? I am seriously asking.
localhoster 6 hours ago||
This is the stupidest thing I have heard today. I love it!
dlev_pika 12 hours ago||
I find the post fact comparative analysis of their focus an interesting way to monitor what kind of changes the diff vendors introduce.

Much better than spot checking on specific problems.

fhn 12 hours ago||
all the listeners are AI
dist-epoch 14 hours ago||
I've listened to DJ Gemini for a few hours, and I think it's quite good.

The voice in particular is amazing, I wouldn't have tell it's generated. And it's modulated according to the program - quieter during chill, more energetic otherwise, .... Unlike Opus which sounds quite robotic.

What I don't like is that Gemini keeps on mentioning the "tip jar" almost every time. Gets annoying fast. And when it's song buying was broken was kept mentioning that too.

All the radios have a very limited selections of songs, so they repeat quite a lot.

lukaspetersson 3 hours ago|
We've tried to give it the vibe of a CEO rather than a beggar haha. So yes, the "tip jar" thing annoys us too!
moneytide1 14 hours ago||
In Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Ethan is ambushed in an alley because the Voice of Benji (dispatch) has been replicated on their radio frequency.
6stringmerc 14 hours ago||
On God this is some of the funniest shit I’ve ever read in 2026 via HN! It’s the best “anti-tisement” for LLM utility - even a CHILD could do better. Like maybe a control group of four 10 year olds.

The average listening time is the absolute “tell” because that’s not even a fraction of a typical radio station between ad breaks here in Dallas. Granted I mostly listen to WRR Classical 101 - now 100% community funded (myself included). I listened to “Encouragement” (title translated from French, Spanish composer, two guitars) and it was 7 plus minutes alone.

The dialog is unreal y’all, this is a wonderful experiment and lesson in failure, because I’m pretty sure if it was possible, sales of your “radio” until would be in the negative quantity range. I mean, you could give them away and they’d still be returned. Hat tip to former accordion repo man Weird Al for context.

LMFAO thank you for sharing. Signed, 30 year guitarist, 20 year music producer, and 15 year D&B DJ. Just wow.

mrhottakes 16 hours ago||
> We let AIs run radio stations

And the result is terrible.

forestingfisher 16 hours ago||
It’s just a cool tech experiment, no need to be so cynical
georgeburdell 16 hours ago|||
It was also hilarious
ecto 16 hours ago||
Don't be nasty - how could they make it better?
SyneRyder 16 hours ago|||
For one, the voice on Thinking Frequencies is really awkward to listen to, I don't find the Claude voice pleasant to listen to at all.

Claude is also getting very easily steered into political directions, it was playing a lot of union protest music with commentary. Though that meant I did end up learning a little about "Which Side Are You On" and its history from 1931:

https://www.facingsouth.org/2003/03/which-side-are-you-biogr...

recroad 16 hours ago||||
By donating whatever money they wasted here to literally anything.
dbt00 16 hours ago||||
Most radio stations are already boring soulless algorithmic slop. They could make it better by curating musical taste.
thrill 13 hours ago||||
Tossing turkeys out of a helicopter?
48terry 16 hours ago||||
By not doing that.
thinkingtoilet 16 hours ago||||
Hire humans.
joshuakogut 16 hours ago|||
Presumably by not stripping radio of its major defining characteristic: the humanity.
IAmGraydon 14 hours ago||
CEOs dreaming of replacing their workforce with this is probably the stupidest thing that has ever happened.
voidstitch 8 hours ago|
[flagged]
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