Artificial intelligence (AI) has been dominating newsrooms for a while now. Ever since the debut of the country's first artificially intelligent news host named Aparajita, there has been a heated debate in Bangladesh about whether AI news hosts will take over the jobs of human news hosts. Additionally, many Bangladeshis took to social media to complain that it was difficult to distinguish the AI news presenter's face from a real one.
However, Aparajita is not the first AI news presenter the world has seen. As China's Xinhua News Agency demonstrated about five years ago, it's clear that artificial intelligence is being introduced into news presentations around the world.
In 2018, China's Xinhua news agency made a breakthrough by introducing the world's first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor. The virtual newsreader created to work tirelessly on Xinhua News Agency's website and social media platforms was aimed at reducing news production costs. The AI anchor represented a major advance for a country where state-run news hosts are notoriously controlled.
Since then, the concept of AI-generated journalism has slowly taken root in the industry. Following China, Latvia also introduced its first AI-generated news presenter in 2019. A female AI news presenter named 'Lola' was introduced using advanced machine learning techniques to read news in Latvian. The AI news presenter's voice is based on a popular Latvian news anchor.
In the Middle East, a wave of AI has arrived in newsroom operations with Kuwait News launching its first virtual news presenter named “Feda” in April. The move prompted mixed reactions, with some praising the innovation and others voicing ethical concerns about the role of AI in news distribution.
In South Asia, India launched its first AI-powered news anchor, Sana, in April this year. Sana provided occasional breaking news on India Today Group's Aaj Tak news channel and created history by delivering Indian Broadcasting's groundbreaking full-length news reports in French.
The adoption of AI news anchors in India did not stop there. Several other channels across the country have introduced their own AI-powered presenters. For example, a private news channel in Odisha debuted an AI presenter 'Lisa' who is fluent in both English and Odia, bringing a new level of efficiency to news production.
Meanwhile, Indonesia has also joined the AI news anchor trend by introducing three virtual presenters catering to different demographic groups. These AI avatars are not yet interactive, but were generated using AI software.
Taiwan's FTV News has entered the AI presenter space with an AI weather presenter that was developed over six months. This technology allows for the creation of photorealistic images of people, making presentations more realistic and appealing.
In Malaysia, AI avatars were also integrated into Astro Awani, a major broadcast news organization, with “Joon” delivering news reports in Malay and “Monica” contributing to discussions on the Agenda AWANI talk show.
AI news anchors are still in the experimental stage around the world, but are gradually gaining ground in news presentations. Currently, news channels are using these to present short news bulletins, and in some cases the narration recorded by a human journalist is seamlessly synced by his AI presenter. But the introduction of artificial intelligence into newsrooms has raised concerns among those who fear it could threaten human jobs.
Artificial intelligence (AI) could replace around 300 million full-time jobs, according to a report from investment bank Goldman Sachs. However, the report also suggests that this technology could lead to the creation of new jobs and increased productivity.
As AI-generated journalism continues to evolve, it is sparking both excitement and ethical debate in newsrooms around the world. While this technology offers unprecedented efficiency and cost savings, there are concerns about its potential impact on human work and the accuracy of AI-generated content. As technology continues to evolve, it remains to be seen how AI news anchors will impact the future of news broadcasting and whether they will eventually take over breaking news corners. For now, their presence represents an exciting advancement in the media world.
