Page 40 - AdNews magazine Jul-Aug 2021
P. 40

                                        ARI the AI has viral ambitions
A child-like artificial intelligence (AI) is being used in a podcast to help children decide what is acceptable behaviour.
How to positively influence young people to have respectful relation- ships? The answer could be helping an AI on a journey of discovery. NOVA Entertainment has created a compelling podcast in partnership with the federal government’s Stop it at the Start campaign.
Project ARI is a fictional storytelling series, designed as a tool to help parents and caregivers have more meaningful conversations with kids about respectful behaviour, focused on topics that can seem challenging to tackle.
The podcast presents the story of a fully functioning AI prototype, affectionately known as ARI and appearing as a 10-year-old boy.
ARI has access to all the information you can Google but couldn’t be programmed with human experience.
He is placed with an everyday family to educate him about the ways of our world. How to be human.
Along the way ARI uncovers everyday circumstances where disre- spectful behaviours are normalised.
The branded series is written for children, created with the help of their peers. The humour and loveable characters are also designed to be engaging for parents and caregivers.
For example, in episode three ARI has big ambitions to go viral when he discovers social media, but the plan doesn’t go as well as he’d hoped. The episode looks at the concept of consent and that posting or sharing
a photo of someone without permission is never okay.
Kane Reiken, NOVA Entertainment’s digital commercial director:
“Project ARI is a great example of how an artfully-crafted story can deliver a serious and compelling message of change in a way that feels genuinely engaging
“It’s testament to the versatility and creative flexibility of pod- casting – I’m not sure you could have told a story like this as effec- tively anywhere else.”
Project ARI boasts an impressive young cast, including River Mardesic (ARI), Xion Jarvis (Sammy), Eva Grados (Sammy’s best friend Malika) and Victoria Wulff (Sammy’s sister Tanna), who stood out from the hundreds of young hopefuls who auditioned.
Also featured are Nova’s Kate Ritchie and Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli, smoothfm’s Cameron Daddo and Byron Webb and Australian professional soccer player Kyah Simon.
The podcast was written by author and screenwriter Nat Amoore who wrote Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire. It has an original score and sound design by Lem Zakharia.
Rachel Corbett, NOVA Entertainment’s head of podcasts and digital content: “Putting together a high-production show for kids like Project Ari is no small task. Every detail has to be thought about, from engaging the perfect writer to making sure you choose the right voice for each character and that no two characters sound the same.
“There’s also hours of attention that go into the sound of the show from the music and sound effects, to all the elements that create the world the characters live in. Basically, when the finished product gets to the listener it’s had thousands of hours of crafting to get it to that point.
“And when you’re creating something that involved, there’s nothing better than working with a client who trusts your expertise and under- stands that for branded content to work, it has to be built with the listener in mind. That creative freedom means you can create a podcast that stays true to the brand messaging without it feeling obvious to a listener. This kind of light touch is essential if you want your show to grow an audience and be a success.”
Project Ari is available to listen on the Nova Player – available for download in the App Store, or wherever you get your podcasts.
in partnership with
40
  Pictured: smoothfm’s Cameron Daddo (voice of Professor Hixon, ARI’s creator) with River Mardesic (ARI).
  Scan to listen to Project Ari
Podcast
credits:
Executive Producer: Elle Beattie Sound Design: Lem Zakharia Media agency: Universal McCann
    






































































   38   39   40   41   42