Xinhua, China’s state news agency introduced AI anchors who will report “tirelessly” all day every day, from anywhere in the country.

A digital version of the news anchor dons a pin-striped suit with a red tie and realistically nods his head, blinks and raises his eyebrows. He boasts 24 hour news coverage every day of the year so he can bring the news to viewers no matter the scene. Another AI anchor was created to speak English and they both acknowledge they are wholly cloned and can provide the news once they are provided with text. Both were built using machine learning to simulate audio, facial expressions, and gestures of real-life people.

According to Xinhua, the AI technology has endless capabilities with examples of popular book reading apps telling stories from family members themselves one day.

Vision of the Chinese AI anchor quickly spread on social media with many viewers as impressed as they were alarmed. “A little bit horrible,” one said, to which another responded: “Really scary.” Xinhua are experimenting with the software as a way to lower production costs.

Who created the deepfake?

Xinhua
Sogou

Was the content disclosed as a deepfake?

Yes

Was the deepfake consensual?

Yes

How was the deepfake created?

Deepfake Software
Video Editing
Facial Recognition
Facial Modeling
Speech Synthesis Software