Meet China's Newest AI News Anchor
Chinese state news agency Xinhua has recently revealed its most recent venture into artificial intelligence: Xin Xiaowei - an AI-powered 3D news anchor.
The 3D anchor was jointly developed by Sogou, a tech company that focuses on web search, and Xinhua. In a video that shows Xin Xiawoei speaking, it says that it utilises "multi-modal recognition and synthesis, facial recognition and animation and transfer learning” to recreate Zhao Wanwei, a human reporter for Xinhua. Sogou also claims that these AI algorithms allow Xin Xiaowei to “intelligently imitate human voices, facial expressions, lip movements and mannerisms.” The AI anchor will give viewers a "refreshing news broadcasting style" and uses "cutting-edge algorithms and high-fidelity 3D technologies" to create a "seamless experience for viewers".
Xin Xiawowei is not the first AI news anchor developed by the two companies. Two notable presenters are Qiu Hao in 2018 and a Russian speaking anchor that was developed with the help of ITAR-TASS, a Russian news agency, in 2019. Both anchors have been working via many means of distribution such as a public WeChat account, TV webpage and the network's English and Chinese apps. Additionally, Abu Dhabi Media (ADM), one of the fastest-growing media organisations in the Middle East, teamed up with Sogou to launch an AI news anchor in UAE back in 2019. The integration of AI in their news network opened up many opportunities such as more efficient broadcasting and 24/7/365 news coverage. With so much development around AI presenters, it would not be unlikely for AI to become a bigger part of the media industry as a whole. In their report, Xinhua has said:
AI anchors have officially become members of Xinhua‘s reporting team. Together with other anchors, they will bring you authoritative, timely and accurate news information in Chinese and English.
The possibilities of AI in the media industry are vast but in 2019, when Qiu Hao was announced, Xinhua and Sogou made sure to acknowledge the limits to the technology through the words of the AI anchor:
I, who was wholly cloned from a real-life host, have mastered broadcasting as well as the real host... As long as I am provided with text, I can speak as a news host.
Even though the technology is ready, it doesn't mean that people are. One user on Twitter said that the AI anchors are "not good news [and are] quite scary actually" while another said, "just because you can [it] doesn't mean you should".
(Thumbnail Source: Xinhua/Weibo)
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