By Jonathan Raymond
(RNN) – There’s fake news, and then there are fake people doing the news.
The first artificial intelligence news anchor gave a broadcast this week in China, on the state-run Xinhua network.
In a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, the “anchor” said “his” voice and appearance were modeled on a real anchor, Zhang Zhao.
“The development of the media industry calls for continuous innovation and deep integration with the international advanced technologies,” the computer program said.
It promised to “work tirelessly to keep you informed,” which is hard to doubt, given that it does not need to sleep.
An accompanying article on Xinhua’s English website said that the AI “learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.”
It also said “he” had become a member of the reporting team and helps with “reducing news production costs and improving efficiency.”
“His” debut coincided with the World Internet Conference opening Wednesday in Wuzhen, south of Shanghai.
Xinhua's first English #AI anchor makes debut at the World Internet Conference that opens in Wuzhen, China Wednesday pic.twitter.com/HOkWnnfHdW
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 7, 2018
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