AI News Anchor Debuts On UK's Channel 4

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: A news special on Britain's Channel 4 titled 'Will AI Take My Job?' investigated how automation is reshaping the workplace and pitting humans against machines. At the end of the hour-long program, a major twist was revealed: the anchor, who narrates and appears throughout the telecast reporting from different locations, was entirely AI-generated.

In the final moments of the special, the host says: 'AI is going to touch everybody's lives in the next few years. And for some, it will take their jobs. Call center workers? Customer service agents? Maybe even TV presenters like me. Because I'm not real. In a British TV first, I'm an AI presenter. Some of you might have guessed: I don't exist, I wasn't on location reporting this story. My image and voice were generated using AI.'

The hour aired Monday at 8 p.m. as part of the 'Dispatches' documentary program, which Channel 4 says is now the first British television show to feature an AI presenter. The 'anchor' was produced by AI fashion brand Seraphinne Vallora for Kalel Productions and was guided by prompts to create a realistic on-camera performance. 'The use of an AI presenter is not something we will be making a habit of at Channel 4 -- instead our focus in news and current affairs is on premium, fact checked, duly impartial and trusted journalism -- something AI is not capable of doing,' said Louisa Compton, Channel 4's head of news and current affairs. 'But this stunt does serve as a useful reminder of just how disruptive AI has the potential to be -- and how easy it is to hoodwink audiences with content they have no way of verifying.'

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