Former Spirit Airlines CEO Baldanza, battling ALS, retires from podcast; has very little energy left [Video]

ARLINGTON, Va. (WHTM) — Artificial intelligence extended Ben Baldanza’s tenure on the podcast he launched by a half-year or so compared to if he had to rely on his own weakening voice.

Still, Baldanza announced this week that the current episode of Airlines Confidential would be his last.

Baldanza, suffering from ALS — also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease — had been using an AI-powered voice, created using countless samples of his own stronger voice from before the disease took its toll — to continue co-hosting the show.

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But “the ALS in my body has advanced to the point where I have very little energy,” Baldanza — speaking using the AI-powered voice — said at the start of the new episode. “The energy I do have needs to be spent with my family and on my health.”

Baldanza’s current co-host, retired Wall Street Journal columnist …