Artificial Intelligence (AI) has finally entered Kannada newsrooms. On July 11, 2023, 24/7 Kannada news channel Power TV launched Soundarya, Kannada’s first AI news presenter.
Calling herself a “robot anchor”, Soundarya opened her debut news show by talking about AI’s impact on the TV news industry. “AI is leaving its footprint in every industry, and the TV news industry is no different. Robot anchors have already taken North Indian news channels by storm and a few of my counterparts have created a stir. Now, south India will get its first ever robot news anchor through Power TV. I am Soundarya.”
Though Power TV introduced Soundarya as “South India’s first AI anchor”, many social media users were quick to point out that such an experiment had already been done by Malayalam and Telugu news channels. Power TV later modified its statement to call Soundarya “Kannada’s first AI news anchor”.
Close on the heels of Power TV, another channel News First Kannada also launched their AI-assisted anchor, Maya.
More AI anchors
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been the buzzword in newsrooms for a while now. This year, regional Indian newsrooms embraced the technology by launching first-of-its-kind AI-powered news anchors. The India Today group introduced the country’s first AI news presenter Sana for their Hindi channel, Aaj Tak, in March. Soon after, in April, Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV launched a male AI news anchor.
Recently, Odia news channel OTV created a stir on the internet after its AI newscaster Lisa gave an impeccable presentation in both Odia and English.
AI news anchors in India are still in the experimental stage, and it will be a while before they take over breaking news segments. News channels are currently using them to present short news bulletins, sometimes with voiceovers recorded by human journalists lip-synced by the AI presenter. However, there is criticism from some quarters that the entry of artificial intelligence in newsrooms poses a potential threat to human jobs.
