ADSactly Technology - How Do You Feel About Robo News Anchors?

Who do you prefer to hear the news from? Man or machine?

Well that seems to be a choice that people are going to have to make pretty soon as paradigm shift comes more upon us.

The world of science fiction and the world we live in today are not so far apart it seems as the gap seems to narrow just a bit as each day passes!

Looking back at 2018, before it took place, nobody had a clue what was coming. They didn't have a clue that it would be a year of robot citizens and news anchors running around?

Was anybody ready for the barrage of updates about driverless cars, automated flying drone taxis and electric semi trucks with autopilot functions dominating the news?

Well, I had trouble believing this news until I saw it for myself. Take a quick look at the video below and after that I'll discuss Erica a bit further:

The stuff of Star Trek, Star Wars and Total Recall is slowly becoming more real and its either adapt or protest, I see no other alternatives.

Erica was designed to look like a lifelike 23 year old. What's more is that she may soon become a TV news anchor in Japan, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Hiroshi Ishiguro, the director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University created Erica in hopes that his android would replace a human news anchor on the airwaves as soon as April.

There are a few things that Erica the android does really well which may satisfy qualification requirements for the job. Firstly, the android can recite scripted writing and sit in a chair. If you haven't noticed, this is pretty much what news anchors do all day!

What may set Erica apart from other artificial intelligence, however, is her charisma, Ishiguro has said.

Erica is capable of holding a conversation with humans, thanks to a combination of speech-generation algorithms, facial-recognition technology and infrared sensors that allow her to track faces across a room, the Daily Mail reported.

While she cannot move her arms yet, Erica can move her facial features, neck, shoulders and waist independently, Ishiguro Laboratories said, allowing her to respond to human speech with uncanny autonomy.

According to the Daily Mail, Erica has been described by her creator as being so lifelike that she could "have a soul."

But lets fast forward. Oh yes, there's more! Taking a look at more recent developments I recently came across an article entitled 'Robo anchor: World’s first female AI news presenter is all set to go on air next month' and within I saw striking comparisons to the Erica story above.

What happens when we combine AI with robotics? Meet our new owners...

Source

According to the article AI will be serving up news as early as next month.

China’s state run news agency Xinhua recently announced that their first female news reader named Xin Xiaomeng will go on air next month, she is reported to make her debut on the upcoming Two Sessions political meetings at the start of March.

Beyond the announcement, the news agency has released a picture of Xin Xiaomeng, where she can be seen wearing a pink and maroon dress.

The agency collaborated with search engine Sogou to develop Xin.

Earlier, the Sogou also helped to develop the world’s first AI male news anchor.

However, we have to give credit to the work of the companies because Xin looks so real that many social media users got confused, some even asked the company whether they were fooling people by using a human instead.

I would have to say the picture does indeed look quite realistic.

But it doesn't surprise me that AI could create images like this as they are creating videos on a much larger scale of complexity, answering phone calls with stunning realism and performing other tasks that we have never even thought imaginable.

What do you guys think of this issue?

Do you have a preference when it comes to AI news anchors, Robo anchors or the real human experience?

Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Authored by: Techblogger