Technology is growing like never before. In the age of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence, we are seeing new innovations regularly in which machines are replacing humans. You will get surprised after knowing that China has just unveiled the world’s first AI news anchor.
News agency Xinhua today greeted users with a digital representation of a regular news anchor, who read out the news just like his real-life counterpart. “Not only can I accompany you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I can be endlessly copied and present at different scenes to bring you the news,” the AI anchor said in Chinese.
Interestingly, the anchor, wearing a red tie and pin-striped suit, nods his head in emphasis, blinking and raising his eyebrows slightly.
The agency has made an English speaking anchor also who said: “The development of the media industry calls for continuous innovation and deep integration with the international advanced technologies … I look forward to bringing you brand new news experiences.” The anchor is developed jointly by Xinhua and Chinese search engine Sogou.
They have been made through machine learning to simulate the voice, facial movements, and gestures of real-life broadcasters, to present a lifelike image instead of a cold robot.
Also Read: How China Is Quietly Dominating India’s Internet
Other countries are not happy over this as China has around 800 million internet users but its internet is one of the most controlled in the world. Experts are worried and they feel that China is turning into a digital police state, with technology from iris and gait recognition being deployed to monitor activists, ethnic minorities in places like Xinjiang, and regular citizens.
Benefits of an AI-based anchor include the availability of 24 hours without breaks, and no chances of mistakes while announcing the news. Broadcasters can also save a lot of money as it will not require makeup teams to get ready.
It seems like AI anchors won’t completely replace real anchors anytime soon, but this can be seen as the first major step towards that direction. Talking about the negatives, we believe that these won’t be much effective during breaking news situations, and also would be unable to conduct interviews of its own.
