Everyone thought they were the new servers! No one could understand what happened: The truth turned out to be completely different

NEWS CENTER / The two figures, which at first glance made us think that they were a human being, attracted all attention the moment they appeared on stage. While it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish them from an ordinary presenter with their appearance, facial expressions and the way they address the audience, what they do has opened the door to a new era in the media world.

The world's first biomimetic humanoid robot news presenters were introduced for the first time at the World Media Summit held in Beijing, the capital of China. Two robots developed by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua were designed in real human sizes, one female and the other male. The robots, which appeared on stage at the event held on Thursday, brought to the agenda once again the discussions that they could replace news presenters.

'Much more advanced'

Female robot presenter Xinyan greeted the audience on the platform by saying "Hello" in English and read the opening news of the forum. His performance on stage showed that robots have gone much further than digital characters that merely voice pre-prepared texts.

The robots were developed in collaboration between Chinese robotics company UBTECH Robotics and Xinhua. Xinhua announced that all intellectual property rights of the robots belong to it. A notable name was included in its designs: Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. The director took on the visual identity and physical design of the robots, bringing them as close as possible to human news anchors and the conventions of television broadcasting.

They won't just read the news

The technology behind the robots is as striking as their external appearance. Thanks to the system connected to the artificial intelligence news platform and smart agent Xinhua Yudian, which was launched by Xinhua in June, the content is aimed to be trackable, safe and controllable.

Zhou Jian, founder and Chairman of UBTECH, stated that the system brings together “brain, expression and control” mechanisms. According to Zhou, robots can receive verified and reliable news from the system in real time. Thus, it is aimed to prevent fabricated information and unrealistic content that productive artificial intelligence can reveal from time to time.

The production of robots, bionic skin technology that mimics human skin, operating system requirements and emotional language model were also developed by UBTECH. The company has also prepared physical intelligence hardware that allows robots to interact with the real world.

It is stated that the new generation servers will not be limited to just reading news. They are planned to assist editorial teams, present information, convey content in different languages ​​and interact with audiences in real time.

Will they replace journalists?

The most important question that came to mind after the introduction was whether robots could replace journalists. Qian Tong, Director of Xinhua New Media Center, emphasized that journalists and editors will maintain their fundamental role in news production. The aim is to position robots not as independent news producers, but as tools that support media workers.

Those who attended the summit also pointed out that human-centered, machine-supported journalism should be the basic principle. Human judgment, news tracking and verification processes in the field remain important; It was stated that artificial intelligence should not replace journalists.

From the first attempt in 2018 to today

Xinhua first introduced its artificial intelligence-powered news servers in November 2018. At that time, characters created using digital images and synthesized voices of real presenters could be prepared faster than traditional computer animations. However, technical problems such as limited facial expressions and disruptions in mouth movements attracted attention.

Over the past eight years, the progress in machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies has taken the experiments in this field to a much further point. New robots that imitate human appearance appeared before the audience this time at an international media summit.

The World Media Summit held in Beijing is expected to continue until November 9. The introduction of robot presenters has reignited discussions about the future of the division of labor between humans and machines in newsrooms.