China unveils world’s first AI robot news anchor

Stepping up its game in the world of robots, which are rapidly making their way into every sector, China has made the first ever ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI) news anchor’.

In its recently published blog post, China’s state media agency Xinhua unveiled its first ever ‘AI anchor’ that can talk, move and act like a normal human news anchor. The state agency also revealed an English version of the anchor.

Video Courtesy: New China TV

According to Futurism, the anchor was created in collaboration with a Chinese search engine firm Sogou. An algorithm was fed live broadcasting videos in order to teach the AI anchor to speak. The post read that the AI was created for reducing news production costs and also to improve efficiency.

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The AI anchor is a male having a voice, facial expressions and lip movements based on the real presenters. Apart from learning itself from the videos, the news anchor can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.

The AI anchor is now a part of the media agency’s reporting team and can work tirelessly 24/7 on its official website and across different social media platforms. It also has a Chinese-speaking version with a different face.

The anchor was revealed during China’s annual fifth World Internet Conference. The developers explained that the AI anchor is made to simulate real-life broadcasters to present a ‘lifelike image instead of a cold robot’, per The Guardian.