Chinese State Media Debuts 'AI' News AnchorsChina’s state-controlled news broadcasters have long been considered somewhat robotic in their Everyday recitation of pro-government propaganda plus a pair of new presenters will do little to dispel This view.

Calling it a”world first”, Xinhua news agency this week debuted a pair of virtual news anchors amid a state-directed adopt of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).

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

Xinhua reported the”AI Synthetic Anchors”, one for Oriental and one for English news, were developed along with Sogou, a Beijing-based founder of search engines and voice-recognition technology.

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

The electronic anchors offer certain benefits over people, Xinhua said, for example being able to work 24 hours a day and to immediately disseminate breaking news.

“The AI Synthetic Anchor has formally become a part of the Xinhua reporting group. He will work together with other anchors to bring you authoritative, timely and accurate information 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 broadly they would be used by the bureau.

Rather than true AI, but the Xinhua presenters merely react to text that’s fed into their systems, ” the bureau said. True AI involves machines which can think, make decisions and do it by themselves.

The avatars surfaced this week through the World Internet Conference, an yearly convention in the eastern Chinese town of Wuzhen organised by China’s authorities.