Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption China's 'first AI news anchor'

China's state news agency has unveiled a virtual newsreader sporting a sharp suit and a somewhat robotic voice.

Xinhua News claims the presenter "can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor", though not everyone may agree.

"Hello, you are watching English news programme," says the English-speaking presenter at the start of his first report.

Sogou, a Chinese search engine, was involved in the system's development.

"I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted," says the presenter in an introductory video.

"I look forward to bringing you the brand new news experiences."

There is also a Chinese-speaking version with a different face.

Xinhua says the presenters can "work" 24 hours a day on its website and social media channels, "reducing news production costs".

The agency points out that they may be particularly useful for disseminating breaking news reports in a timely manner.

An artificial intelligence (AI) system has been used to synthesise the presenters' voices, lip movements and expressions. They are based on those of real Xinhua presenters.

This is different from using a 3D digital model of a human. It appears that photo-like facial features have been applied to a body template and animated.

'Uncanny valley'

The presenter struggled to appear completely natural, said Michael Wooldridge at the University of Oxford.

It was stuck somewhat in the "uncanny valley" - a term used to describe human-like robots and avatars which seem subtly unrealistic.

"It's quite difficult to watch for more than a few minutes. It's very flat, very single-paced, it's not got rhythm, pace or emphasis," Prof Wooldridge told the BBC.

He also pointed out that human news presenters have traditionally - in many cases - become highly trusted public figures.

"If you're just looking at animation you've completely lost that connection to an anchor," he added.

It was a "good first effort", however, said Noel Sharkey, emeritus professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield.

"We will see it improve over time," he told the BBC. "The problem is that it could be very dull."</s>China’s Xinhua news agency on Thursday unveiled the world’s first AI anchor that can read news in English and Chinese.

Xinhua in collaboration with search engine operator Sogou unveiled the new technology at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China, South China Morning Post reported. The AI anchors take the form and shape of a human being and read out news stories. They have minimal facial expressions and lip movements which look quite realistic.

Xinhua’s first English AI anchor introduces himself as what he is and what his capabilities are. This AI anchor’s face and voice has been designed based on the agency’s news anchor, Zhang Zhao. He can read news as it is typed out in the teleprompter. The AI news anchor also assures that he will “work tirelessly” and read out news without any interruptions.

The AI news anchor also collects data and learns to develop itself. “’He’ learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor,” Xinhua reported.

Xinhua further says that the AI anchor has already become a member of the agency’s reporting team. He can work for 24 hours continuously on the news website as well as its social media platform. The AI anchor is said to “reduce news production costs and improve news efficiency”.

The AI anchor has also started presenting news reports. Since it’s an AI anchor, news is read out in a very monotonous manner with no expressions in between. The AI anchor himself acknowledges that the technology is still in development and that many improvements are required.</s>"This is my very first day at Xinhua News Agency," says a sharply dressed artificial intelligence news anchor. "I look forward to bringing you the brand new news experiences."

China's Xinhua News Agency has billed the technology as the "world's first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor," unveiled at the World Internet Conference in China's Zhejiang province.

The anchor "learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor," Xinhua says. Some disagree about whether the technology appears natural. You can decide for yourself here, with the English-speaking one modeled after real Xinhua anchor Zhang Zhao:

The AI anchor was produced with "facial landmark localization" and "face reconstruction," according to China Daily. As the BBC notes, it "appears that photo-like facial features have been applied to a body template and animated."

It was designed jointly with the Chinese search engine company Sogou.com. Reuters reports that there's another version of the AI anchor, modeled on real anchor Qiu Hao. The wire service added that Sogou staff "said it wasn't clear when the technology would actually go into use."

Xinhua points to what it sees as certain advantages of an AI anchor, saying it "can work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency." South China Morning Post suggests it could save networks money in news anchor salaries, and even "one day challenge the human variety."

But some experts are skeptical about the kind of news-watching experience an AI news anchor offers.

"It's quite difficult to watch for more than a few minutes. It's very flat, very single-paced, it's not got rhythm, pace or emphasis," Michael Wooldridge from the University of Oxford told the BBC. And compared to a trusted human news anchor, he says that "if you're just looking at animation you've completely lost that connection to an anchor."

The news is amusing some actual news presenters — BBC's Simon McCoy burst out laughing while reading that Xinhua claimed its AI anchor was just as natural as a human one.

And of course, as The Washington Post notes, an AI anchor is "devoid of decision making and processing skills and cannot offer the emotional element given by a real journalist."

Artificial intelligence technology is becoming more commonly used by news organizations. For example, the Post has used a bot system called Heliograf to automatically write text that humans can add to for breaking news events such as elections and the Olympics.</s>HANGZHOU - The world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor made “his” debut at the ongoing fifth World Internet Conference in east China’s Zhejiang Province.

The news anchor , based on the latest AI technology, has a male image with a voice, facial expressions and actions of a real person. “He” learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor .

The AI news anchor was jointly developed by Xinhua News Agency, the official state-run media outlet of China, and Chinese search engine company Sogou.com.

According to Xinhua, “he” has become a member of its reporting team and can work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency.</s>China’s state-run press agency Xinhua has introduced a new anchor to deliver news, but unlike the typical newsreaders that people are used to see on TV or on the internet, this one is based on artificial intelligence technology.

The anchor is based on digital composites created from footage of human hosts and designed to read text fed into the artificial intelligence using synthesized voice.

The South China Morning Post reported that Xinhua created two anchors, one to broadcast news in English and the other for Chinese. The news agency developed these in collaboration with the search engine company Sogou.

According to The Verge, old videos of human anchors were used as a base layer for the AI anchors. By animating parts of the face and mouth and combining this with synthesized voice, Xinhua can program the digital anchors to read the news far quicker than if they use traditional CGI.

The AI-based news anchors reportedly learn from live broadcasting by themselves.

Xinhua did not provide further information about the technology used to create the anchors but the product is reminiscent of the so-called “deep fakes”. These videos are created by AI that scans hundreds of still frames from a video and then uses these frames to produce a new video.

Xinhua said that there are endless prospects for these AI news anchors. The news agency said that the digital speakers can be used to generate news for the TV, web and mobile at a cheap cost.

“AI anchors have officially become members of the Xinhua News Agency reporting team. They will work with other anchors to bring you authoritative, timely and accurate news information in both Chinese and English,” Xinhua said, according to SCMP.

It appears that the technology still has plenty of room for improvement. For one, the range of the anchors’ facial expressions is limited and it is clear that the voice is artificial.

Still, these digital anchors hold potential in changing the field of news reporting. Because they can work round the clock on Xinhua‘s official website and various social media platforms, these AI-based newscasters can reduce the costs of production and improve efficiency.

News anchors, particularly those working at major news networks in the United States, are paid large sums of money. CNN‘s Anderson Cooper, for instance, who is the highest paid news anchor, reportedly receives $100 million per year.

Xinhua unveiled the world’s first AI news anchor at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, China.</s>China's state-run press agency Xinhua has unveiled what it claims are the world's first AI-generated news anchors.

Xinhua revealed the anchors at the World Internet Conference on Thursday. Modeled on two real presenters, the agency showcased two AI-generated anchors, one who speaks Chinese and another who speaks English.

"AI anchors have officially become members of the Xinhua News Agency reporting team. They will work with other anchors to bring you authoritative, timely and accurate news information in both Chinese and English," Xinhua told the South China Morning Post.

In a post, Xinhua said that the generated anchors can work, "24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency."

Xinhua developed the "anchor" with Sogou, China's second biggest search engine. No detail was given about exactly how they were made, but it was possibly achieved by training an AI system on footage of the real anchor.

Although Xinhua claims that the avatar "learns from live broadcasting videos by himself," the avatars themselves do not appear to artificially intelligent, as they read pre-typed text.

"I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted," the English speaking anchor says in his first video, using a synthesized voice.

You can watch the first appearance of the English-language "AI news anchor," who is modeled on real presenter Zhang Zhao, here:

Convincing though it might seem at first glance the movement of the mouth is clearly edited, its facial expression seems limited, and the voice is also highly robotic.

Oxford computer science professor Michael Wooldridge told the BBC that the anchor fell into the "uncanny valley," a term which refers to when avatars or objects look like humans but feel subtly unnatural, and are therefore uncomfortable to watch.

You can watch the AI anchor's report on China's relationship with Panama here:

"As an AI news anchor under development, I know that there is a lot for me to improve," the AI-generated anchor says as it signs of its report.</s>China's state-run press agency has welcomed two additions to its team of journalists - two news presenters powered by artificial intelligence (AI).

Dressed in suit and tie, the AI newsreaders can 'learn from live broadcast videos and read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor', according to Xinhua.

The digital doppelgangers were modelled after the agency's journalists, English-language anchor Zhang Zhao and his Chinese-language counterpart Qiu Hao, and were jointly developed by Xinhua and search engine company Sogou.com.

The two AI anchors were first seen in action at the ongoing 2018 World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang.

'Hello everyone, I am an English Artificial Intelligence Anchor. This is my very first day in Xinhua News Agency,' says the presenter in an introductory video.

'My voice and appearance are modelled on Zhang Zhao, a real anchor with Xinhua,' he continued in a somewhat robotic voice.

An AI system has been used to synthesise the presenters' voices, lip movements and expressions based on those of real presenters.

'I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted,' he added.

Xinhua said the anchors are available to work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms. This can reduce news production costs and improve efficiency during breaking news reports.

Net users on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo questioned if these AI anchors would replace human reporters.

'The AI's voice is too stiff, and it has trouble making the right pauses during speech,' one highly-rated comment read.

'Seems like some normal presenters are getting fired,' another user said.

'What's the point of this? I prefer real human presenters,' another said.

China has become one of the leading global hubs for AI development in recent years. Several fields such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing have adopted machine learning systems for commercial uses.

Automating workplaces in China with AI could add 0.8 to 1.4 per cent to gross domestic product (GDP) growth annually, depending on the speed of adoption, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute.</s>THE RISE OF THE MACHINES will be televised if China's artificial intelligence (AI) news presenter is anything to go by.

The nations state news agency Xinhua News worked with Chinese tech firm Sogu to create a virtual news anchor based on the appearance of actual human news readers.

The virtual presenters are created using 3D digital models of real humans an then apply AI tech to synthesise the voices of presenters and replicate their expressions and lip movements, without the need for more time-consuming traditional CGI processes.

The results looks to be a tad mixed, with AI news presenters looking a little stilted and unnatural, though if we were to stumble in late at night after a skinful and turn on Chinese news, we'd probably be duped by the presenter, at least until we sobered up with some fried chicken and a can of coke.

The idea behind an AI newsreader is that news can be delivered 24/7 without suffering spiralling production costs. Reading between the lines, that would suggest there's potential for the AI news readers to push their human counterparts out of their jobs. But that situation will likely need the tech to advance a few steps first.

A more immediately worrying aspect is that virtual news readers could be yet another step down the route of delivering fake news and propaganda. China's news outlets are already subject to a lot of state control and censorship, so the ability to have virtual news readers to effectively do exactly what it's told is certainly an eyebrow-raising concept.

Anyone who's played Deus Ex: Human Revolution will recall the Picus news agency that used an AI news anchor to propagate propaganda of the comms agency behind the news firm. It looks like near-future sci-fi is getting closer to reality, though we suspect wrist chisel and claymore personal augmentations aren't going to pop up anytime soon.

Either way, the idea of AI news readers is definitely something to chew over, though we suspect it'll put the willies up the likes of Bill Gates and fellow AI fear-mongers. µ</s>China's state-controlled news broadcasters have long been considered somewhat robotic in their daily recitation of pro-government propaganda and a pair of new presenters will do little to dispel that view.

Calling it a "world first", news agency this week debuted a pair of amid a state-directed embrace of advanced technologies such as (AI).

Based on the appearances of two flesh-and-blood Chinese news presenters, the computerised avatars read out text that is fed into their system, their mouths moving in tandem with the reports.

said the "AI Synthetic Anchors", one for Chinese and one for English news, were developed along with Sogou Inc, a Beijing-based creator of search engines and voice-recognition technology.

China last year unveiled plans to become a world leader in AI and other high-tech fields, though it has since toned down the rhetoric amid a trade war with the United States, which has included accusations by President Donald Trump that China steals US technologies.

The offer certain advantages over humans, Xinhua said, such as being able to work 24 hours a day and to quickly disseminate breaking news.

"The AI Synthetic Anchor has officially become part of the Xinhua reporting team. He will work together with other anchors to bring you authoritative, timely and accurate news and information in Chinese and English," Xinhua said.

The anchors have appeared on some Xinhua online and social media products, but it was not immediately clear how extensively they would be used by the agency.

Rather than true AI, however, the Xinhua presenters merely react to text that is fed into their systems, the agency said.

True AI involves machines that can think, make decisions and take action on their own.

The avatars debuted this week during the World Internet Conference, an annual convention in the eastern Chinese city of Wuzhen organised by China's government.</s>Mumbai: If you were to watch news on the Chinese government-run Xinhua News Agency, you would, in all likelihood, encounter the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered news anchor.

Developed jointly by the news agency and Chinese search engine company Sogou.com, “he” is officially a member of Xinhua’s reporting team.

His voice has been modelled on that of a real anchor working for the agency, which also explains the facial expressions and actions that imitate a real person.

As with any machine learning technique, the AI anchor learns continuously from live broadcasting videos and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.

He made his debut at the ongoing fifth World Internet Conference in east China’s Zhejiang Province, according to an 8 November post on xinhuanet.com.

The AI anchor can work through the day on its official website and various social media platforms, reducing news production costs and improving efficiency, according to the same report.

AI-powered virtual assistants, such as Apple’s Siri, Google Assistant, Samsung’s Bixby and Microsoft’s Cortana, are as intelligent as Xinhua’s AI anchor, if not more, but they do not have a human face.

Even IBM’s AI system, Project Debater, which engaged in the first-ever live, public debate with humans on 18 June at an event at the IBM Watson West site in San Francisco—delivering a four-minute opening statement, a four-minute rebuttal, and a two-minute summary— remains an intelligent machine without a face.

Xinhua’s anchor falls under the category of androids or humanoids—robots that look human, making them both exciting and scary. Examples of humanoids include Honda-owned Asimo and SoftBank Robotic Holdings Group-owned Pepper.

Androids or humanoids were made popular by sci-fi movies such as the epic Star Wars series, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and Surrogates—which portrayed a futuristic world where people live within the safety of their homes while their humanoid surrogates fulfil their daily chores—and Bicentennial Man, in which a court eventually grants human status to a humanoid played by the late Robin Williams.

In a small way, this is already a reality. Hanson Robotics’ female humanoid Sophia is now a citizen of Saudi Arabia, becoming the first ever robot to have a nationality.

Activated on 14 February 2016, Sophia was also named the world’s first United Nations Innovation Champion by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and will work with the agency to promote sustainable development and safeguard human rights and equality.

Sophia recently visited India during the Vizag Fintech Festival, hosted by the Andhra Pradesh government on 25 October.

Humanoids excite us but also raise the question whether AI-powered humanoids will become sentient any time soon.

The good news is that AI machines are nothing like the super-intelligent machines portrayed in movies. Sophia, for instance, is a “sophisticated chat-bot” (as described by the company’s website) that chooses from a large palette of template responses based on context and a limited level of understanding. However, Sophia also uses OpenCog, a sophisticated cognitive architecture created with artificial general intelligence (AGI) in mind. AGI is when an AI machine can emulate a human or even surpass it.

“The smarter these AIs and robots get, the more controversial things are likely to get, but this is also where the greatest benefit for humans and other sentient beings is going to lie,” Hanson Robotics’ chief scientist Ben Goertzel said in a June 2018 blog.

A November 2016 Stanford University-hosted report titled “Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030” attempted to allay these fears when it said that “…unlike in the movies, there is no race of superhuman robots on the horizon or probably even possible.”

However, to avert such scenarios, given the rapid progress of technology, the US-based Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is insisting on “explainable AI” as the way ahead. New machine-learning systems, according to David Gunning, programme manager at the Darpa Information Innovation Office (I2O), “will have the ability to explain their rationale, characterize their strengths and weaknesses, and convey an understanding of how they will behave in the future”.
China's Xinhua News Agency unveils the world's first AI news anchor. Xinhua says the AI presenters can work "24 hours a day", thus reducing news production costs.