translated from Spanish: Debuts in China the first driver of virtual news

China, Xinhua News Agency presented the first conductor of created virtual newscast using real images, a synthetic voice and animations generated by an artificial intelligence. The development of the technology was in charge of the local company Sogou, used as a basis the filming of a human driver. On it, artificial intelligence is responsible for animating the mouth and facial expressions according to the text which is reciting.

The news agency said that the possibilities are endless, since this type of technology can be used to generate reports for 24 hours on multiple platforms at low cost and with minimum production. Xinhua has developed two drivers (one for transmissions in English) and another for broadcasts in Chinese, which made their debut in the world Internet Conference developed in Zhejiang province.
“[El conductor] can work 24 a day on several platforms, reducing production costs and improving efficiency”, said the Agency.

Initial tests are of questionable quality, in particular because the intonation is almost non-existent and facial animations are limited. However, it is only a matter of time before this type of presenters become indistinguishable from the real ones.

Beyond technology is a so disturbing that in a country in which governs censorship and the press is under constant scrutiny, the Government appeal to these new presenters to distribute their propaganda.

China Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning Xinhua Sogou

Original source in Spanish