Watch: China’s state-run news agency has unveiled the world’s first AI anchors
Human news anchors don’t have to worry just yet though. They’re still a work in progress.
Xinhua AI anchor, launched on Wednesday, starts presenting news reports from Thursday. In this program, he takes you to have a look at what a Panama official and the Chinese businessman Jack Ma say about the ongoing #CIIE. pic.twitter.com/OZkRQtv1sQ
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 8, 2018
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency has new star anchors – virtual presenters that use artificial intelligence (AI) to read the news.
The AI newsreaders were unveiled on Wednesday at the World Internet Conference tech expo in Wuzhen. While one suit-clad anchor presented the news in Chinese, the other did so in English. “Hello, you are watching English news program, I’m AI news anchor,” the English-speaking presenter said at the beginning of the first broadcast.
The newsreaders are designed to work 24 hours a day, provided human editors keep feeding them information, according to the South China Morning Post. A video of one newscast was shared by Xinhua on its Twitter page. Although the virtual anchor’s features are based on a real-life Xinhua host, Zhang Zhao, his voice remains robotic and detached. The anchor also acknowledged that he was still a work in progress and said in his sign-off message, “As an AI news anchor under development, I know there is a lot for me to improve.”