TV presenter powered by artificial intelligence makes an appearance in Kuwait

Virtual presenter Fedha appeared on Kuweit News' Twitter account. AFP - YASSER AL-ZAYYAT

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Kuwait News broadcast a video of a virtual TV host generated by artificial intelligence. The announcement, made as part of a project still in the test phase, did not fail to make Internet users react.

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Her name is Fedha. An old Kuwaiti name that, according to Kuwait News deputy editor Abdullah Boftain, "refers to money, metal." "We always imagine the robots of silver and metal color, so we combined the two," he told Agence France-Presse.

With her robot voice, blonde hair and light eyes, Fedha appeared earlier this week in Kuwait. In a 13-second video posted on social media, the virtual presenter addresses netizens in Arabic to ask them what kind of information they prefer.

أول مذيعة في #الكويت تعمل بالذكاء الاصطناعي

• #فضة.. مذيعة #كويت_نيوز الافتراضية

• ما هي نوعية الأخبار التي تفضلونها بتقديم #فضة زميلتنا الجديدة؟ .. شاركونا آراءكم pic.twitter.com/VlVjasSdpb

— كويت نيوز (@KuwaitNews) April 8, 2023

Fedha could in the future present a news bulletin on Kuwait News' Twitter account, followed by more than 1.2 million followers. The site is affiliated with Kuwait Times, the first English-language daily in the Gulf, founded in 1961, says our regional correspondent, Nicolas Keraudren. For its deputy editor, artificial intelligence is a way to offer "new and innovative content". It is also incidentally a way to create a buzz for this media affiliated with a major English-language daily in Kuwait. The video has already been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Many Internet users have reacted to this video with, in most cases, amused comments. But some, including journalists, have also expressed fears.

► Read also: ChatGPT, technological revolution or illusion of an intelligent machine?

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