World’s First: China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency launches an artificial intelligence (AI) anchor

World’s first artificial intelligence (AI) news anchor has debuted in China. China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency has introduced an AI anchor. The AI anchor is modeled after regular news presenter Zhang Zhao. It debuted on Thursday at the World Internet Conference in the country’s eastern Zhejiang Province.

The English speaking AI news anchor learns from live videos and can work tirelessly for 24 hours a day. The company has claimed that the new anchor learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.

During the first broadcast of the AI anchor said that “The development of the media industry calls for continuous innovation and deep integration with the international advanced technologies.”

“I will work tirelessly to keep you informed as texts will be typed into my system uninterrupted. I look forward to bringing you the brand new news experiences,” it further added.

The robot anchor has been developed by Xinhua in partnership with the Chinese search engine Sogou.com. According to the news agency, the AI anchors were developed through machine learning to simulate the voice, facial movements, and gestures just like real-life broadcasters instead of a stiff robot.

Xinhua has also posted two more reports from the AI broadcaster on its Twitter feed including one news about China’s announcement regrading the launch of its first Mars probe in 2020 and then it paid tribute to Chinese journalists.

Before closing the broadcast , the Ai anchor said, “Before we go, I’d like to send my good wishes to all of the journalists across the country. As an AI anchor under development I know there is a lot for me to improve.”

When the world is worried about AI industry causing job loss and unintended discrimination, research firm Gartner has predicted that the industry will create 2.3 million jobs and eliminate 1.8 million by 2020.

Gartner has also revealed that the industry is expected to generate more than $3.9 trillion within the next five years. Major companies such as Apple and Coinbase are using AI platform Triplebyte in recruitment where software engineers are interviewed online by AI.