Broadcast radio in the age of AI

Mario Maniewicz, Director, ITU Radiocommunication Bureau

Broadcasting began with a leap of imagination. At the turn of the 20th century, when wires and distance still constrained communication, Guglielmo Marconi and other pioneers envisioned something radical: transmitting signals over the air, across borders and seas.

Those early radiocommunication experiments laid the foundations for broadcasting and reshaped societies by allowing information to circulate at unprecedented speed and scale.

More than a century later, broadcasting has once more reached a moment of transformation. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have come onto the scene with disruptive potential that broadcasters and regulators are working hard to understand.

AI is not just a new tool to deploy. It entails the latest technological disruption with a whole new paradigm to comprehend.

AI reshaping radio

Already, AI is present across nearly every step of radio station workflows. From content production to distribution and delivery. It supports scriptwriting, editing, music selection, audience analytics, automated playout, real-time translation, and more.

By accelerating routine tasks, AI enables services such as automatic transcription and personalized streams that were previously hard to bring to scale.

AI is also reshaping the listening experience for audiences, with enhanced voice interfaces, accessibility features, and personalized recommendations.

All these capabilities, of course, require governance to protect audience data.

ITU-R studies on integrating AI

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), as the custodian of the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of the radio-frequency spectrum since 1906, continues safeguarding the foundations that make broadcasting work, ensuring interference-free operations and access to spectrum for all.

The ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is exploring new technical questions related to the role of AI in broadcasting.

The ITU-R Study Group for broadcasting services (Study Group 6) has been examining these developments under Question ITU‑R 144/6, focusing on how AI can support programme production, quality assessment, content assembly, and efficient transmission.

Study Group 6’s deliverables aim to document use cases, assess technical maturity, and provide internationally harmonized guidance to help radio broadcasters deploy AI responsibly and interoperably, anywhere in the world.

AI and radio enhancing resilience

The ITU Radio Regulations, updated every four years through the World Radiocommunication Conference, ensure that broadcast radio services operate reliably across the world.

As AI tools become more embedded in broadcasting transmitters, it enables the optimization of transmission parameters and stream quality, allowing for more efficient and sustainable operations while preserving audio quality.

Radio’s resilience remains unmatched during emergencies, from earthquakes to conflicts and climate-related disasters, with broadcasts spreading vital warnings and guidance. AI can accelerate early warnings, send the message out in multiple languages, and help tailor alerts to local needs.

As governments, regulators, and broadcasters navigate AI’s expansion, ITU fosters global cooperation and shared standards to ensure innovation advances responsibly.

Ensuring authenticity

Undisclosed AI-generated presenters, of course, can quickly erode hard-won credibility. To address such risks, broadcasters are adopting provenance and authenticity guidance, such as the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) framework, as well as picking up AI tools to detect synthetic media.

Regional organizations like the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are showing how, with transparency and human oversight, AI can reinforce editorial integrity rather than compromise it.

Maintaining audience trust is paramount. Because at the end of the day, this remains a medium for people. Broadcast radio, in fact, remains one of the most trusted and accessible communication platforms, reaching billions of people, including those in rural, remote and crisis-affected areas.

Radio for humans

From the beginning, broadcast radio has connected people with reliable information and companionship, including in the most difficult moments.

In this new era, AI must remain a tool to serve that mission: helping broadcasters reach more people, in more languages; never replacing the editorial responsibility for which communities rely on trusted radio stations.

World Radio Day, celebrated yearly on 13 February, honours the medium’s unique power to inform, connect and accompany people everywhere. The latest annual theme reminds us: “AI is a tool, not a voice.”

ITU and its global membership in the broadcasting industry will continue preserving the airwaves as a valuable resource that enables this unique medium to thrive.

Ultimately, radio’s future depends on using AI to reaffirm and strengthen the human values that define the medium.

Header image credit: Adobe Stock/AI generated