MBC's AI variety show producer stupefies participants, viewers

MBC's variety show "Gone PD," produced almost entirely by an AI model, left viewers dissatisfied, but veteran producer Choi Min-geun still considers the experience a success.

Participants on "Gone PD" carry out a mission given by an artificial intelligence model named M-Phago, which directed and produced the whole show. [MBC]

The latest variety program from major Korean broadcasting station MBC, "Gone PD,” came to an end Tuesday evening with public opinion divided. Some said it was refreshing, while others criticized it for not being fun enough for a variety program.

But who is to blame?

The producer behind this latest show was M-Phago, an artificial intelligence model. The AI producer had "full authority over directing the program.” It selected the cast, edited the show and even calculated how much each participant should be paid based on their exposure.

Based on each participants' exposure, M-Phago calculates000 how much they should be paid. [MBC]

M-Phago selected 10 participants with different backgrounds, ethnicities and occupations, like comedian Kim Young-chul, rapper YunB and Fatou, a Belgian-Senegalese rapper of girl group Blackswan, as well as some members of the general public like Lee Jeong-ho, a student at Seoul National University. The program showed how each participant carried out fresh yet bizarre missions created by the AI producer.

The broadcasting industry has slowly been adapting to the use of AI, but it was mostly for drama series — using AI de-aging technology in Disney+'s "Casino” to make actor Choi Min-sik look younger, or applying deepfake technology in JTBC's "Welcome to Samdal-ri” to depict a younger version of the late TV host Song Hae. Having the entire program created by AI is a world first.

A human producer, Choi Min-geun, the force behind variety shows like "Real Men” over the past 15 years, said he thought of creating the AI-produced variety show after coming across Chat GPT.

"Some said that ChatGPT was somewhat sloppy at first, but what surprised me was that unlike existing search engines, it felt like a person,” said Choi. "After witnessing it giving new ideas I haven't even thought of when asked a question, I thought that AI could soon take over the jobs of human producers.”

M-Phago introduces itself on MBC's latest show, "Gone PD" [MBC]

Choi said he minimized the involvement of a human production team and only assisted the AI producer in areas like dealing with technical equipment.

It was an adventure from the start, recalled Choi, as casting, which usually determines the fate of the show, was done by the AI. To Choi's surprise, M-Phago recruited people from different backgrounds. What worried Choi the most was that many of these participants lacked broadcasting experience.

"M-Phago decided the direction of the program based on learning and carried out the recruitment of participants by narrowing the pool of applicants to meet realistic conditions, such as the budget,” said Choi. “Thanks to M-Phago, people I didn't even know were able to be cast and appear on the show. The bizarre and strange missions created by the AI were also something that would have been completely ignored or never even thought of if humans had gotten together and brainstormed. At the same time, I was intimidated by the potential of AI as this was something that's entirely on the creative side.”

Although "Gone PD” is categorized as an entertainment program, it was more of a social experiment based on observation rather than a show to entertain viewers. At first, the participants had positive attitudes and were actively involved in the missions. As the missions became more absurd, however, they showed frustration, expressed anger toward M-Phago and some even looked like they'd given up completing the missions at all. Viewers could then witness M-Phago learning this and gradually increasing its level of control over the humans.

Participants on "Gone PD" carry out a mission given by an artificial intelligence named M-Phago, which directed and produced the whole show. [MBC]

YoonB ended as the winner of the first episode, aired on Feb. 27, but the rapper couldn't understand why he came out on top and what factors M-Phago prioritized to reach the decision.

“More than the mission itself, the conflict and desires of humans unfolding in an AI-dominated space are the interesting points to look for,” MBC said in a press release.

The three-episode program came to an end on Tuesday with a relatively low viewership rating of 0.5 percent. However, the program's human producer, Choi, says it was still a success in that it was able to "experience how AI and human producers could coexist in the future.”

BY EO HWAN-HEE, YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]