Chinese state media has TV news anchors that can broadcast 24/7 with computer-generated faces
It’s like an official use of deepfakes… and it’s also a little creepy
Xinhua’s latest news anchor looks like a person. He sounds (kinda) like a person.
But he can also work 24 hours a day, seven days a week… and read multiple stories on multiple channels at the same time.
The Chinese state-run news network unveiled two “AI synthesized anchors” yesterday. They’re based on real people, but their faces and voices are computer-generated -- allowing them to say and do things that their real models never did.
“My appearance and voice are based on Xinhua anchor Qiu Hao, but I never need to rest,” the AI says in its debut video.
The software, developed by search engine Sogou, learns a human anchor’s voice and face by watching his newscasts. It uses speech synthesis to make it “read” text inputs, and generates lip movements and facial expressions to match the words in real time.
The result is impressive… and a little creepy. It looks good enough, but there’s something odd about the way their lips move. And the voice sounds like, well, any other computer voice -- it has the same stilted delivery as Siri or Alexa.