The new AI anchors, launched by Xinhua and
Beijing-based search engine operator Sogou during the World Internet
Conference in Wuzhen, can deliver the news with “the same effect” as
human anchors because the machine learning programme is able to
synthesise realistic-looking speech, lip movements and facial
expressions, according to a Xinhua news report on Wednesday.
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“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.
The AI anchors are now available throughout
Xinhua’s internet and mobile platforms such as its official Chinese and
English apps, WeChat public account, and online TV webpage.
https://youtu.be/GAfiATTQufk
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.
Celebrity anchors are regarded as important assets at major news networks in the US. The highest paid news anchor, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, is reportedly paid US$100 million a year, while Diane Sawyer at ABC and Sean Hannity at Fox News earn US$80 million each. Celebrity anchors in China are generally paid a lot less because they work for state-run TV stations but they often earn extra money from product endorsements and book sales.
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But AI anchors may one day challenge the human
variety because of their ability to work 24 hours a day provided human
editors keep inputting text into the system.
Xinhua said the achievement was a “breakthrough in the field of global AI synthesis”, pioneering the synthesis of real-time audio and video with AI-created anchors in the news field. Search engine Sogou, which also does research and development in AI, is providing the underlying technology for the project.
China plans to be a world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030
The AI technology has a “endless prospects”
because it will greatly improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of
producing daily TV news reports, Xinhua said, adding that it could also
quickly generate breaking news reports to improve the timeliness and
quality of such reports. - South China Morning Post
China's AI race via @SCMPgraphics http://bit.ly/2NdeiK4 #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Dataviz #infographic
China's AI race via @SCMPgraphics http://bit.ly/2NdeiK4 #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Dataviz #infographic
