AI new Anchor

AI news anchor

Chinese state media’s latest innovation is an AI female news anchor

 

China continues to make remarkable strides in making human journalists obsolete.

State news outlet Xinhua announced yesterday(Feb. 19, link in Chinese) that it had, in collaboration with search engine Segou, created the world’s first female AI news anchor, known as Xin Xiao Meng. The anchor will make “her” debut during the upcoming Two Sessions political meetings at the start of March.

The announcement comes after Xinhua debuted the world’s first male AI news anchor, Qiu Hao, during China’s annual World Internet Conference held in November in the town of Wuzhen.

Xinhua and Sogou said that they also developed an improved male anchor called Xin Xiaohao, who is also able to stand up and gesticulate and has more natural mouth movements.

Xinhua has been experimenting with AI-driven journalism in recent years, including a robot reporter  whose attempt to imitate a human went slightly awry. Jia Jia, a Chinese-manufactured robot who resembles a young woman dressed in historical clothing, interviewed AI expert and Wired magazine co-founder Kevin Kelly at an event in Hefei in 2017. Xinhua, which broadcast the chat live, billed Jia Jia as a special reporter. Jia Jia, however, clearly had hard time responding naturally to many of the questions posed by Kelly, sometimes taking up to 10 seconds to answer and restricting herself to one- or two-word answers that didn’t always make sense. Earlier in 2017, a 1.2-meter tall robot called “Inspire”  served as an intern reporter for Xinhua during that year’s Two Sessions meetings.

Xinhua said that its robotic “new employees” have taken to their roles with enthusiasm, and since launching in November have published some 3,400 reports totaling over 10,000 minutes in length.

India gets its first AI news anchor: milestone or menace?

Though it has raised eyebrows, it has also sparked discussions about whether India has entered a new era of news broadcasting.

An Indian media group unveiled its first full-time artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor this month—a bot named Sana who presents news updates several times a day. The AI-powered reporter appears on the India Today Group’s Aaj Tak news channel.

Bot debuts

Sana has a human-like appearance and is fed data that it can read using text-to-speech technology. Since the introduction last November of humanlike chatbot ChatGPT, AI-generated news presenters have gradually been making their mark.

IN 2018, China’s Xinhua news agency created the world’s first AI-powered male news anchor using computer graphics. Just this year, it debuted its first AI female news anchor. Last month, Russia’s Svoye TV introduced Snezhana Tumanova as its first virtual weather presenter.

The world’s first news channel whose content is generated entirely by artificial intelligence, NewsGPT, was launched in March—ostensibly threatening the jobs of media professionals. Alan Levy, NewsGPT’s CEO, described it is a game changer in the world of news. But as journalism robots proliferate, there is growing concern about their impact.

“AI will definitely have an abiding influence on journalism in general,” Shailaja Bajpai, a media critic, told DW. “However, it is too early to say how deep it will be and how much of a difference it will make.”

“The chances are while bots can do news bulletins, they may not be able to react and conduct debates the way individual anchors do today,” Bajpai added. With three decades experience of writing about the development of television in India, Bajpai maintained that AI was a big challenge.

She suggested that explanatory journalism, on-the-ground reporting, and investigative journalism could be the answer as AI bots may not be able to replicate human observation and experience. “We have to be prepared to change and adapt to withstand this challenge or perish in the attempt,” she said.

Media columnist and ombudsperson Pamela Philipose said the threat posed by AI and its applications was real and hinted that the “Alexas” of the newsroom will perform these tasks more efficiently than a journalist drawing a salary in the near future.

“The more multi-layered problem is the potential AI has to create disinformation by design,” Philipose told DW. “Fake news now passed around through WhatsApp texts and images which lead to stolen elections and the stigmatising of targeted communities may appear like child’s play once AI’s full potential in repurposing raw data is realised.”

In recent years, with the rising costs of on-the-ground reporting, prime-time TV news has become dominated by studio debates—where some media houses have become megaphones for the powerful.

Corporate and political influences have overwhelmed media organisations and many commentators believe that a disturbing trend has emerged where instead of speaking truth to power, media organisations have let those in powers decide what the truth should be. “AI anchors and applications could trigger a democratic breakdown in ways not imagined at the present moment. I think that should be our greatest worry,” said Philipose.

India’s First AI Anchor With Sudhir Chaudhary

Aaj Tak has presented A.I. based news anchor. The news has gone viral. Everyone is eager to know more about the A.I. anchor. You will get complete details about the A.I. Anchor Sana in this article.

Who Is Sana AI Anchor?

India Today’s vice chairperson Kali Puri has presented the A.I.-based news anchor named, Anchor Sana. She explained her benefits mentioning that the A.I.-based Anchor Sana will not age, will not be tired, will not fumble, can speak in multiple languages, etc. She can also answer your questions and will appear on Aaj Tak screens. It uses the google text-to-speech engine which can be found commonly in your smartphones, but this is an advanced version. China also presented a.i. a based news anchor in November 2018. The machine is shown as a humanoid robot. She is also fed with multiple languages and data so that she can be multi-lingual.

A.I. Sana giving news video has been viral. Sudhir Chaudhary also asked some questions and she gave a solid answer to him. Sana is a humanoid anchor that can present news using the video bot’s text-to-speech feature. She is not a human or any living being but a robot. She is the first Indian humanoid news anchor which is presented by Aaj Tak. It is provided with different accents of different languages. For example, Google Assitant and Siri in your smartphone also take samples of your voice for the first time for recognition. People are having different questions related to Sana.

Can It Operate On Their Own?

A.I. Sana can not operate fully on its own. It is provided with the data and information that it responds automatically according to it. The first command is important. The more input you give the better and more detailed output you will get. It can learn and understand human behavior at a fast speed. It uses machine learning tools and techniques to do so. Every human is occupied with some habits and behaves that way. A.I. also tries to capture and adapt the same thing.

Conclusion:

A.I. Sana is a humanoid robot who is presented by Aaj Tak as a news anchor. It is a robot and not a human. It is given a human-like appearance and fed with data that it can read using text-to-speech. It can also answer the questions being asked related to the data feed. This was all about A.I. Anchor Sana. The day is not far when every task will have A.I. involved in it.

• Sana is an AI bot who can speak multiple languages and will provide daily news updates in various languages numerous times a day.
• Additionally, Sana will host a new show where she will discuss and clarify specific topics daily and interact with the audience, allowing them to ask questions.
• The use of AI-powered bots in news anchoring is becoming increasingly popular due to their numerous benefits. AI bots can work tirelessly, do not require breaks, and provide quick and efficient news updates to the audience.
• They can also provide multiple language options, especially for diverse audiences.
• This move in mainstream media is aimed at achieving more efficiency and reducing the workforce while still providing high-quality news updates.
• Introducing the first female AI anchor is a significant step in the media world, showcasing the potential of AI in news anchoring.
• While some may view this as a setback for human anchors, Kalli Purie emphasized that Sana will not replace human anchors but will work alongside them.
• The company will be providing a human surrogate editor for Sana and is planning to hire more human editors soon. The Vice Chairperson positively views integrating AI and humans, acknowledging that the future is "fascinating and frightening."
• This announcement by India Today comes after China launched its first AI news anchor back in 2018, which was well-received by the audience. It remains to be seen how the Indian audience will respond to Sana and whether this move will inspire other media groups