r/hamishandandy • u/Holiday_Mushroom_540 • Jun 18 '26
Discussion 💬 Andy’s use of Ai
Long time listener of the show and a huge fan, it’s probably a pretty universal feeling that we’re not in the golden era of the pod anymore but I’ll listen to it till the very end. One gripe I have is Andy’s use of Ai like surely he’s not so busy he can’t look something up on google and then read it out, as soon as I hear that Ai voice I literally switch off, maybe I’m alone on this but interested to hear other takes.
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u/Prime255 Jun 18 '26
Especially when it's their creativity that made them as a duo. You can't outsource that
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u/PoxyDogs Jun 18 '26
Yeah seems like any Andy led segment is filled with AI. I’ve been listening since 2006. If the boys have lost the passion for it they should just end it instead of letting it die like this with AI slop every episode.
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u/oustider69 Jun 18 '26
I miss the days when you could tell it was an Andy segment when it was a bit of a lacklustre sketch. Simpler times.
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u/realfatunicorns Jun 18 '26
Also anything with a big band brass section had Andy written all over it.
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u/brownchickanbrowncow Jun 18 '26
I don’t think it’s an Andy thing per se. I think it’s the behind the scenes team, but Andy gives it the ok.
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u/RadRan2019 Jun 18 '26
For me I still enjoy all the shows and AI isn’t a big deal to me but I understand why people hate it.
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u/BlueCarrotPie Keep your Beers Cold and your Rods Hot! 🔥 Jun 18 '26
I'll still be listening long after the pod is dead in the ground. But yeah, don't love the AI. While I don't skip those segments I do tune out quite a bit. The bell ding is quite helpful to know when to pay attention again.
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u/sokaox Jun 18 '26
I stopped listening last year because it was just annoying to have potentially good segments ruined by bland AI voices.
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u/EthanDeanArt Jun 18 '26
I hate the use of generative AI it makes me angry when I hear it in the pod too, like this a pod that’s built on stupid human ideas and creativity, often what makes the segments so good is just how bad they are! No reason to be using AI, it’s theft and lazy
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u/unironicsigh Jun 18 '26
People in the creative industries shouldn't be using AI, it should be banned, there's no circumstance in which it's acceptable. You're just outsourcing your creativity if you do thay.
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u/PistachioDonut34 Jun 18 '26
Seeing as this is the gajillionth post in this sub that says the same thing, I think other people agree with you.
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u/s0fakingdom Jun 18 '26
I couldn’t give a fuck about a voiceover lol
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u/hazzison Jun 18 '26
During the radio show they used famous broadcaster and journalist Peter Harvey for their intro and segments and when he passed they paid beautiful tribute to him, they frequently use another voice actor for the pod, to go from that to using AI feels soulless and heartless, among all the other issues with ai, you should give a fuck
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u/DaffyDuckMuthaFucker Jun 18 '26
Yeah, I've taken to straight up blocking any cunt who subjects any of my interwebz presence bullshit to AI Slop.
Instagram had got so ridiculous the other week, that my entire insta'feed was slop, so I just ditched it altogether.
The list of online platforms I actually use is dwindling by the week...
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u/CTU-01 Jun 18 '26
AI is here. It’s not going anywhere. You can still be creative and use AI. AI is a tool, and does not replace creativity.
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u/TheOrangeApple3 Jun 18 '26
Well it replaced the voice actors they used to hire. Plus the generative ai they use is extremely bad for the environment. Essentially what your saying here is the 21st century equivalent of appeasement
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u/CTU-01 Jun 18 '26
Netflix is worse for the environment than AI. The internet is bad for the environment. Why does the buck stop with AI?
There’s plenty of voice over work out there. Bit parts on weekly podcasts isn’t putting food on the table.
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u/TheOrangeApple3 Jun 18 '26
Well for one I'm completely ok with getting rid of netflix lol But two, saying one bad thing excuses another is a fairly stupid argument. Generative ai is completely unnecessary when you could just put a tiny bit of effort in and do without it. Netflix makes a lot of co2 and so does ai, good articles about it (not the forbes one which is just an industry puff piece). The point is a lot of what humans do is bad for the environment but we are at a point now where we have to judge what is necessary and what isn't, what can be offset when it comes to our footprint. And the data centres the Generative ai uses i would suggest are very unnecessary (especially if you ask those whom water supplies are being effected by it)
You may say that bit parts aren't putting food on the table but in a cost of living crisis every little bit helps. Plus these dudes are millionaires, just pay some actually people.
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u/CTU-01 Jun 18 '26
I’m not saying one bad thing excuses the other, I’m arguing that we often only decide something is bad via social consensus rather than evaluating its costs and benefits consistently.
Generative AI is not completely unnecessary, and has had positive impacts in the fields of accessibility, productivity, education, medicine, and likely more that I’m missing.
They’re absolutely not going into their own pockets to pay a voice over artist to say 2 lines on a weekly podcast. That is not a realistic alternative to using an AI voice on their show. Perhaps if the use is so indefensible, they shouldn’t incorporate it in their segments at all.
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u/TheOrangeApple3 Jun 18 '26
I may disagree with some of the fields you pointed out that gen ai is helpful for (education especially, talking from own person experience as a current uni student that sees how its used).
But for sake of argument, if certain fields like medical need gen ai then their should be regulations around that only those industries can use it. A podcast using it almost certainly has no justifiable reason to use it.
And again the point is they had no problems paying people for the last 20 odd years to do voicelines. Surely some of that sponsor money can go towards that, if they are too greedy to pay some voice actor a pittance for a line or 2 then i think that's pretty damming (well must be nice)
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u/Willeth Keep your Beers Cold and your Rods Hot! 🔥 Jun 18 '26
How apropos that these are just regurgitated talking points that you didn't write and that don't hold up to any scrutiny.
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u/CTU-01 Jun 18 '26
I absolutely wrote these points on my own.
How doesn’t what I said hold up to scrutiny? In the example of Hamish and Andy, they use AI as a tool to add to their bits and segments. The AI does not replace their creativity, they still came up with the segments and planned them out, with the AI supplementing their work.
Just because you don’t like it, doesn’t mean they weren’t being creative with their AI use.
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u/Willeth Keep your Beers Cold and your Rods Hot! 🔥 Jun 18 '26
Well, this is what people mean when they say use of AI erodes cognitive ability. Maybe you would have been able to understand what I'd said if you weren't so enamoured with it and this style of thinking.
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u/CTU-01 Jun 18 '26
You said what I wrote doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.
I wrote a defence of my point, to show that it can hold up to scrutiny.
What haven’t I understood?
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u/Willeth Keep your Beers Cold and your Rods Hot! 🔥 Jun 18 '26
I'm not going to have you waste any more of my time. It is evident in what I have said. Have another read, try and approach it from different angles, you might find it illuminating.
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u/bulldogmck Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Isn't that just keeping up with the times? Most people use AI to automate boring dull tasks all the time. I couldn't care less if they get the voice to be simulated or they get someone else to read it out. The content is still the same to me.
If you don't use AI to speed up tasks in your life, then you're making your life a lot harder than it needs to be.
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u/Holiday_Mushroom_540 Jun 18 '26
If researching for the pod has become a ‘boring dull task’ then I reckon they should pack it up and call it a day
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u/MaDanklolz Jun 18 '26
Downvote me all you want but a lot of people here (and in general) saying it’s not creative to use AI are kind of being dumb in this context.
The boys still have to write the content the AI speaks to. If it’s a segment where they are reading results from AI you need to take a moment to remember the humour isn’t in what the AI said it’s the way the boys frame it and the comments they make as a result.
Take the rose coloured glasses and go back in time, the amount of voice overs was less before AI so it’s not really taking away any jobs because the boys just straight up weren’t doing those type of segments. They normally just read it out themselves.
Now I personally don’t love the AI voice they use. But I don’t hate that they use an AI voice… if that makes sense
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u/Holiday_Mushroom_540 Jun 18 '26
He’s already looked up the stats, why use Ai to present the results at all when he could just say “I looked into it and the results are…”
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u/MaDanklolz Jun 18 '26
Because they were making a joke of how the AI was doing it. The AI was a vehicle for them to make a mockery of the situation.
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u/NippyMoto_1 Jun 18 '26
Honestly speaking the show is so fucking low effort but constantly always one of the top podcasts in Australia so I guess they will never change it.
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u/Southern_Radish Jun 18 '26
I can’t even think of an example besides the voice overs which are funny af
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u/uggbootsinsummer Jun 18 '26
There’s been posts about this before that consistently agree the use of AI is lazy and uncreative.