FAKE NEWS? Meet Your Artificial News Anchor as AI News Rolls Out Around the Globe
There's yet another development in Artificial Intelligence that could signal a major change to the world as we know it. How would you feel if the news you consumed was generated or delivered completely by a computer-generated news anchor?
It could be the next big thing in TV and online news.
A fake news anchor named Lisa recently made "her" debut for Odisha TV News located in eastern India.
In a clip of the broadcast, she declared, "Here are the top headlines at this hour..." just like a human news anchor would do. Then she also delivered a report about India's prime minister.
September 26 – Headlines with 'LISA'#OTVNewsEnglish #Odisha pic.twitter.com/tKm4P1I5P9
— OTV (@otvnews) September 26, 2023
What makes Lisa different is while she looks and acts very much like a human, she's not one. She's generated by artificial intelligence.
AI news anchors haven't been perfected yet, and don't sound completely natural. But the technology is still new, and will doubtless be improved.
And this isn't just happening in India. Business Insider reports AI news anchors are being used in many countries, including China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Kuwait.
Moral Implications of Technology
As CBN News reported in September, the sudden explosion of artificial intelligence has left some Christians pondering the moral implications of this ever-expansive technology.
When it comes to the true size and scope of artificial intelligence, the future is anything but certain. Promises of profound technological advancement come alongside fear over job loss and lapsed ethics.
"One of the problems of the whole issue of artificial intelligence is that that landscape could change before I get to the end of this sentence," Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told CBN.
Mohler said new moral dimensions surrounding AI emerge as fast as the technology evolves.
"This is a truly frightening prospect," he said. "And I don't say that about everything. ... What we don't know, we don't know, and this really is setting something loose in the lab."
Mohler urged Christians to pay close attention to the claim AI could potentially develop a form of consciousness.
"There is no such thing as a feeling machine," he added. "There may be a machine that mimics feeling; we are not merely feeling machines. We're not merely machines that mimic feeling; we're made in God's image. And so there has to be a distinction there."
Mohler continued, "But keeping that distinction straight, and by the way, defending human dignity is going to uniquely fall upon Christians because the world is cashing out its ability to argue for human dignity."
Author Johnnie Moore, among others, believes America must pause, reflect, and offer moral leadership to ensure the right path forward.
"All the good and the bad of it is going to be realized by us," he said. "The decisions we make now will determine the lives our children will enjoy. This is the moment to press pause, to gather together, to ask the right questions, and to make sure the United States isn't just leading in technology, but that we're leading with our values too."
