Like many people from baby boomers to millennials, I grew up watching Walter Cronkite deliver the news, remembering his childlike joy at the fact that a man walked on the moon, and John Cronkite. -I grew up witnessing the deep sadness of having to confirm reports that President F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Cronkite delivered the news with a human touch. Now, Channel1.ai wants me to separate the news from its humanity and embrace daily reporting from a human-like AI.
That would be a hard no.
I can see the appeal of what Channel1.AI is trying to do in early 2024. The startup wants to package authentic news reports created from the hard work of real-life journalists, and a large number of news reports generated by autonomous artificial intelligence. Characters deliver news.
Check out the world's highest quality AI video. 🤯 – Our generated anchors deliver informative, heartfelt, and entertaining stories. Watch upcoming news network showcase episodes now. pic.twitter.com/61TaG6Kix3December 12, 2023
They shouldn't be called “characters.” What I saw on Channel1's demo reel looks surprisingly human and promises to provide fact-based news reporting. I watched the video several times, looking for obvious signs of their inhumanity. Not too many. An adult woman with perfect hair, an older woman with a slightly wrinkled neck, a pair of burly young men as anchors, and all this seriousness that seems designed to give the AI ​​a “real” impact. There's an AI guy who does that. report.
Their voices are probably the worst part. It sounds like a robot and the AI ​​human video and words may be out of sync. The effects can be unpleasant.
I have no qualms about the news Channel1 promises to deliver. He repeated the word “facts” and promised to follow “journalistic principles.” That's all reassuring, and I started to think maybe this wasn't such a bad thing, but the video also pointed out that news programs sometimes use AI imagery. Clearly labeled, but still. What do AI images do in newscasts? Newscasts show what the news is supposed to be, not what an artist represents the news to be.
To be fair, I've seen artist renderings on news shows, but they were usually created by humans, the kind you'd get from court reporter artists. AI-generated art has a habit of inventing things. One example shown by Channel 1 appears to be her AI-generated image of a Titanic-like ship running aground on a giant iceberg. There is no video record of this tragedy, so we don't know what Channel 1 is going to show.
Some people don't believe Channel 1 is real. that's right. The company has been working for months on the technology that powers AI Anchor, including the platform, delivery system, and, of course, scripts generated by large-scale language models (LLMs).
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That aside, let's talk about Channel 1's complete lack of humanity.
Indeed, news anchors are supposed to be unbiased news readers, telling us the day's events without side-eye or agitation. But the best of them never were. Not Cronkite. Not the Dan Rather who came after him. Not Katie Couric. Today Show anchors aren't emotionless robots.
I worry that these AI anchors are being programmed to try to inject emotion and humanity into news reporting. The uncanny valley of a Channel 1 anchor's delivery will be inevitable, just as we can pick out the slightest deviation or terrible AI imagery in a humanoid robot.
Leave things to AI that humans don't want to do or need to do. For us to understand news and its importance, we need humans who can convey context and impact and understand what it means.
Channel 1's plan instead is to fake it. Earlier this year, the company told The Hollywood Reporter that it would bring in “liberal and conservative hosts who can tell the news through a more specific perspective.” It is wonderful. Rather than delivering unbiased news, Channel 1 intends to satisfy its viewers by reinforcing existing opinions and viewpoints rather than simply educating them with facts. I can't imagine anything more horrifying, or worse, for a nation watching the news.
Walter Cronkite must be rolling over in his grave.
