Watch: China introduces world’s first AI news anchor

China on Friday unveiled world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor at the ongoing fifth World Internet Conference in east China’s Zhejiang province.

The first English speaking AI news anchor was jointly developed by Xinhua, a Chinese state-run news agency and the search engine company, Sogou.com.

World's first #AI news anchor debuts, jointly developed by Xinhua and Chinese search engine company https://t.co/34tyZ4nwrg. https://t.co/2omcc5K9rB pic.twitter.com/qXn5Z3ZkxL

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) November 8, 2018

The AI news anchor’s appearance and voice are said to be modelled on Zhang Zhao, a news anchor of Xinhua.

“He” learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.

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According to Xinhua, introducing an AI news anchor aims to reduce the news production costs and improve efficiency.

“The development of the media industry calls for continuous innovations and deep integration with the international advanced technologies. I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will typed into my system uninterrupted,” AI news anchor said in a video.

According to curators, he (AI news anchor) 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.

In 2015, China’s Shanghai Dragon TV had “employed” a robot as a weather reporter on its live breakfast show, which evoked concerns among Chinese television anchors that in near future machines may threaten their jobs.

(With PTI inputs)