I'm both terrified and impressed by these AI news anchors

While there's always excitement surrounding the latest advancements in AI technology, there's a natural tension around the stake of jobs in the near future. A new channel is causing concern after it was announced that a news site presented by AI anchors is set to debut in early 2024. 

The new site is set to shake up the broadcasting industry, providing a fascinating, if somewhat troubling advancement in artificial intelligence. While we've come to terms with AI productivity tools and art generators, this advancement has the potential to elevate AI technology to more than an extension of human creativity. 

The AI anchors were announced by media startup Channel 1, who shared a showcase video of the AI cast to X, captioning the post "See the highest quality AI footage in the world." While it sounds like a bold claim, the realism and detail of the AI reporters are undoubtedly advanced compared to past models, displaying groundbreaking fluid movement (and astoundingly, functioning hands). 

The news site will comprise a mix of fully generated AI anchors and digital doubles which are voiced by a range of AI text-to-speech models. While there's a mild underlying roboticness to the voices, each model has a unique and surprisingly realistic 'personality' thanks to a range of diverse accents and cadences. The reporters are also capable of speaking in an array of languages, so unlike traditional media, they're accessible to a vast global audience. 

The company also plans to utilise AI technology behind the scenes to filter through popular news and identify trending stories. The AI will draw from multiple sources and has the advantageous ability to translate foreign articles and accounts, optimising the process of curating news for writers. Accompanying footage can also be synthesised by the AI, creating visual aids that provide additional context to visually underdocumented stories.

Despite the strong intervention of artificial intelligence, the company has assured that there will still be a human-led team to oversee the news channels. “At every step of our editorial process, we do have humans in the loop,” says Channel 1 founder, Adam Mosam in an interview with Deadline. To maximise transparency, AI elements will be flagged with an icon to alert viewers of any additional modifications, explicitly stating how it has been augmented. 

It's astounding to see how advanced AI technology has become in recent years and while I find the concept slightly Orwellian, Channel 1's mission is undoubtedly a giant leap for AI. At such an early stage it's unclear how this new medium will transfer to general audiences but for now, I'm choosing to view it as an exciting prospect that could streamline the industry for the better.

For more AI news, check out Meta's AI celebrity chatbots or take a look at the impact of AI's creativity and what it means for creatives of the future.