A Kuwaiti news outfit debuted the newest member of its team over the weekend. Unlike others at the station, this talking head, named “Fedha,” is neither a dues-paying member of a union nor deserving of a parking spot. In fact, Fedha is not even a human being.
Kuwait News, an affiliate of the Kuwait Times, posted a video to Twitter Saturday that showed a modestly dressed and blonde-haired woman. It introduced itself as Fedha. Fedha is the first person in Kuwait to present itself as artificial intelligence.
Arabic’s humanistic simulacrum stated: “What kind of news do I prefer? Let’s hear your opinions”.
Kuwait News’ deputy editor-in-chief Abdullah Boftain. Fedha, he told AFP, was a test of AI’s potential to provide “new and innovative content” and present news bulletins using the outlet’s 1.2 million followers on Twitter in a Kuwaiti accent.
أول مذيعة في #الكويت تعمل بالذكاء الاصطناعي
• #فضة.. مذيعة #كويت_نيوز الافتراضية
• ما هي نوعية الأخبار التي تفضلونها بتقديم #فضة زميلتنا الجديدة؟ .. شاركونا آراءكم pic.twitter.com/VlVjasSdpb
— كويت نيوز (@KuwaitNews) April 8, 2023
“Fedha”, an old Kuwaiti name, refers to silver. Boftain explained how robots were always imagined as both metallic and silvery in color so we combined them. ”
Boftain suggested Fedha was designed to reflect the Near Eastern nation’s “diversity”, which includes natives and expatriates. He said, “Fedha can be for everyone.” ”
Fedha also offers an opportunity to fulfill Goldman Sachs’s prediction of AI replacing 300 million jobs within a few years.
Goldman Sachs, an investment banking bank, reported recently that AI could replace 25% of American and European work tasks. Because generative AI is capable of creating new content that can be “indistinguishable from the human-created output,” this is partly why.
This great replacement will impact many sectors but it won’t be the same. AI can only replace 6% of construction tasks.
Carl Benedikt Frey was responsible for the future of work at Oxford Martin School, Oxford University. He said that “The only thing that I know is that it’s impossible to predict how many jobs are going to be eliminated by generative AI.” ”
Frey said that ChatGPT allows more people with average writing skills such as Frey to create essays or articles. “This will lead to increased competition and lower wages. ”
Goldman Sachs claims that AI could automate 26% of the media, arts, and design industries.
An AI-generated scripted ChatGPT could replace a human script reader at Kuwait News.
The New York Post noted that Fedha, while perhaps being the most human news presenter, is not the first AI-generated.
Xinhua News in China, ” A state news agency, has revealed that Qiu Hao, a virtual newsreader, was dressed in a suit jacket with a tie in 2018. ”
Xinhua presented Xin Xiaomeng, a female AI news anchor, a few months later.