Journalist Concerned When

Newspaper Uses Adorable AI Bot to Replace Humans

 

 

“This is so grim.”

A former journalist for The Garden Island, a local newspaper in Kauai, Hawaii, writes for Wired. The newspaper uses artificial intelligence (AI) to power its phony newscasters.

According to human journalist and former Island staffer Guthrie Scrimgeour, the Hawaiian newspaper recently made history by being the first in the nation to use artificial intelligence (AI)-generated news anchors from Caledo, an Israeli AI startup. The humanoid artificial intelligence (AI) personalities offered by Caledo to the Island are named “James” and “Rose,” respectively. They appear in videos posted on social media and the internet that mimic a genuine broadcast and “report” on the most recent stories published in the newspaper. TGI Today is the name of their broadcast.

The identities evoke a certain unease. They walk in an inhumane manner, and they all speak in the same monotone. For example, James and Rose have the same tone when talking about Labor Day breakfast specials as when they talk about an attempt to prevent suicide on the island.
That being said, this is undoubtedly one of the most disappointing attempts to revive local news. And the Instagram comments area appears to concur, as Scrimgeour notes.
One viewer said, “This is so grim.”
Another said, “This ain’t that.” “Keep journalism local.”

The paper’s parent business was acquired by the Carpenter Media Group, which owns other local papers around the nation, subsequent to the Island’s investment in Caledo’s technology, according to the report.
Dina and Moti Shatner, the married pair who founded Caledo, told Wired that their technology provides a more “engaging” method to interact with news.
According to Dina Shatner, “It’s boring to just watch someone read an article,” Wired reports. “But watching people talking about a subject this is engaging.”

Is it? Regardless, according to the report, the Shatners claim that Carpenter is planning on rolling more Jameses and Roses out to its many other papers a goal that raises important questions about where owners of local outlets are choosing to invest their cash (Carpenter declined to comment.) After all, Caledo’s weirdo anchors aren’t free; per Wired, the company’s founders wouldn’t say how much the service costs for publishers, but argue that new advertising revenue it rakes in should balance out the price.

Whether that’s ultimately the case remains unclear. But these videos are far from “engaging,” and we’re sure that human interns in front of Zoom backgrounds could create something with way more actual value to news consumers (while adding an entry-level role to their résumé to boot.)
But instead of investing in local human journalists, the Island is simply paying to show its readers fake ones.