Kannada's first AI news anchor, Soundarya, debuts on Power TV

Artificial intelligence (AI) has finally entered Kannada newsrooms. On July 11, 2023, 24/7 Kannada news channel Power TV launched Soundarya, Kannada's first AI news presenter.

Soundarya, who calls herself a “robot anchor,” opened her debut news show by talking about the impact of AI on the television news industry. “AI is leaving its mark on every industry and the TV news industry is no exception. Robot anchors have already taken news channels in North India by storm, and some of my colleagues have caused controversy. Now, South India will have its first ever robot news anchor through Power TV. I am Soundarya.”

Power TV introduced Soundarya as “South India's first AI anchor,” but many social media users were quick to point out that such experiments were already being carried out on Malayalam and Telugu news channels. . Power TV later revised its statement and called Soundarya “Kannada's first AI news anchor.”

Following Power TV, another channel News First Kannada has also launched AI-assisted anchor Maya.

More AI anchors

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a buzzword in newsrooms for a while now. This year, India's local newsrooms embraced the technology with the launch of the first-of-its-kind AI-powered news anchor. India Today group introduced his Sana, the country's first AI news presenter, on Hindi channel Aaj Tak in March. Shortly after, Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV hired a male AI news anchor in April.

Recently, Odia news channel OTV created a stir on the internet after its AI news anchor Lisa gave a flawless presentation in both Odia and English.

AI news anchors in India are still in the experimental stage and it will take some time before they take over breaking news corners. News channels are currently using these to present short news bulletins, sometimes with voiceovers recorded by human journalists lip-synced by AI presenters. But some critics say the entry of artificial intelligence into newsrooms poses a potential threat to human jobs.