Welcome to the age of AI journalists! The trend started a few years back, but now more and more are appearing especially in Asia. And as Virtual Beings appear in marketing as the new trend for digital influencers that are popular, we expect that these will be loved and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide. AI-powered news anchors are computer-generated, virtual avatars that can be designed to look like real human news anchors or take on unique and creative visual identities.
While AI-powered news anchors offer certain benefits, such as 24/7 availability and the ability to quickly generate news content, they also raise some important ethical and quality concerns. Critics argue that these virtual anchors lack the nuanced understanding, journalistic intuition, and emotional connection that human anchors bring to their work. Additionally, there are concerns about the potential for AI-generated content to spread misinformation or lack accuracy in certain situations.
One of the first examples of an AI-powered news anchor is China’s Xinhua News Agency, which unveiled an AI-generated virtual news anchor in 2018. The virtual anchor, named “Xin Xiaomeng,” was designed to read news reports in both Chinese and English languages.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAfiATTQufk
As gender equality is important in the virtual space, the first female AI news anchor was revealed soon:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iZuffHPDAw
In 2019, Europe’s first AI news anchor has been created through a cooperation of a leading European language technology company Tilde and DELFI – the largest Latvian digital media company. The AI news anchor, named Laura, could read news in Latvian. Laura’s voice is based on that of a popular Latvian news anchor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP5wYRKAsMU
But, since then, the trend is growing.
Sana, Lisa and Maya the AI-leaders from India
SANA is the first AI-anchor launched in India and is presenting news, reports or even weather,
LISA appeared on the private news channel in Odisha. The channel’s leader Jagi Mangat Panda called the moment “a milestone in broadcasting TV and digital journalism” and said ‘Lisa’s’ role would involve doing repetitive work “so news people can focus on doing more creative work to bring better quality news.”
INDIA : AI Kaur
News18 Punjab/Haryana, a regional news channel, has announced the launch of its AI anchor named ‘AI Kaur’ at its ‘Education Summit: Season 04’ event. With this step, News18 is taking the lead in exploring the power of collaborative AI Malaysia: Joon and Monica
Indonesia: Bhoomi, Roni, Andini, Devano, Kiko, Anya, Rania, and Glenn
tvOne, one of Indonesia’s most-watched broadcast channels, introduced three virtual presenters named Bhoomi, Roni, Andini, Devano, Kiko, Anya, Rania, and Glenn. Each presenter possesses unique attributes catering to different demographic groups within the country. Read entire article ”Meet Indonesia’s virtual news anchors” by Kelly Van Germert here
Kuwait: Fedha
Fedha, an AI-generated virtual news presenter, is reading news and bulletins and was launched by leading Kuwait News. Fedha is named after an old Kuwaiti name meaning ‘silver’ and was introduced as a ‘test’ to check AI’s potential in offering innovative and new content.
Malaysia : Joon and Monica
Two AI avatars were introduced by the leading broadcast news organizations, Astro Awani. Joon is an AI avatar that appears on Astro Awani’s channel 501, delivering news reports in Malay during the evening news broadcast. Monica, who has a Scandinavian appearance, joins the Agenda AWANI talk show discussion every night on the same day.
Taiwan:
Taiwan’s very first AI-generated news anchor debuted on FTV. The virtual newsreader made a splash with her flawless delivery of an international weather forecast. The news channel launched a campaign related to how to name the AI presenter.
These are just the first AI-anchors that are appearing, but definitely the trend of AI-anchors is growing and we will see more and more in future. They might still look awkward, but as technology is evolving, AI journalists will evolve and diversify.
They bring a new flavor to journalism, and in the future we might expect them to even be interactive.
Definitely, cost-effective as they will never complain, can work long-hours, speak multiple languages and they will not form unions to ask for more wages.