TGI Today, a product of The Garden Island newspaper, was launched late in August, featuring presenters created by AI. It was created using the AI platform of Caledo News, reports MediaPost.
Serving the island of Kauai the AI-driven newscast appears twice per week, on Mondays and Thursdays.
“To my knowledge we are one of the very first publishers in the U.S. to create a local news broadcast solely utilizing AI and avatars,” says Aaron Kotarek, senior vice president of audience and operations at owner Oahu Publications. “With increased speed and efficiency in mind, parlayed with the ability to reach new audiences, I am quite sure TGI Today will be of significant value to our viewers on Kauai.”
The company insists that there will be no staff layoffs resulting from the AI usage.
However, the use of AI has drawn some criticism. “There’s this principle called the ‘uncanny valley,’ where something looks almost real or almost true, but it’s not quite there and it gives off this creepy feel,” says Brett Oppegaard, director of the journalism program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, according to Hawaii News Now. “And that’s what I see when I watch these broadcasts,.”
For its part, Caledo News defends the technology. "Caledo’s platform enables publishers to effortlessly create studio-quality news shows, based on existing editorial content,” says Dina Shatner, CEO of Caledo News.
No comments:
Post a Comment