In China, an AI chatbot became a TV presenter, adopting the skills of “thousands of news anchors”
(ORDO NEWS) — China‘s state-run People’s Daily recently unveiled a new member of its news anchor team, Ren Xiaorong, an artificial intelligence- powered virtual anchor who is said to be able to cover the news 24/7.
In a video published by People’s Daily, a virtual young woman named Ren Xiaorong introduced herself to the world as an AI-driven chatbot that has adopted the skills of “thousands of news anchors” and can continuously evolve based on viewer feedback.
Beautiful and smartly dressed, Ren certainly looks like a likable news anchor, and if it wasn’t for the synthesized, out-of-synch dubbing, you could hardly tell she’s not a real person.
Using the app, anyone can ask the news anchor questions on a variety of topics, including education, epidemic prevention, housing, employment, environmental protection, and many more, but at present, she can only give general answers in line with the rhetoric supported by the Chinese Communist Party.
“Hello, my name is Ren Xiaorong. I am a digital AI presenter who just joined People’s Daily,” Ren said during her first online talk.
“Thousands of news anchors have shared their professional skills with me.
For 365 days, 24 hours, I will report the news for the whole year, around the clock, without rest.
“Whether on the news sites or in the studio, you will always see me. Every conversation, every feedback you provide will only make me smarter,” added the virtual news anchor.
While certainly impressive at first glance, Ren Xiaorong is currently not as advanced as Open AI’s ChatGPT chatbot , for example.
The interaction of users with the virtual news anchor is limited to the selection of a topic, to which Ren will always give general answers.
Ren Xiaorong is not the first AI-powered virtual news anchor created in China.
Back in 2019, Xinhua introduced its first virtual MC in 2018 and a female version a year later, but while everyone expected them to quickly evolve and replace human MCs, that hasn’t happened yet.
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