China Reveals AI News Anchor, Almost Indistinguishable From Real Human - Already in use for 70 days
China Reveals AI News Anchor, Almost Indistinguishable From Real Human
BY TYLER DURDEN FRIDAY, JAN 14, 2022 - 09:00 PM By Shawn Lin of The Epoch Times,
“Hello everyone, I am
the artificial intelligence news anchor on National Business Daily. I am the
virtual twin of the original host. I have been running—reporting the
news—undetected for 70 days now,” the AI news anchor N Xiaohei revealed itself
to its television viewers on Dec. 20, 2021, after 1700 hours of a continuous
live news broadcast.
On the same day, the
Chinese state-controlled media National Business Daily (NBD) and the AI company
Xiaoice jointly announced the official launch of their collaborative live news
broadcasting TV programs run entirely by AI—the first of its kind.
The TV program is
named “AI Business Daily.” It will broadcast financial news 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, hosted by two AI news anchors—named N Xiaohei and N
Xiaobai—technically supported by Xiaoice.
N Xiaohei and N
Xiaobai are virtual replicas of two real-life news anchors—a man and a woman.
The Xiaoice Framework uses data collected from the two real-life anchors to
train its AI models. Meanwhile, Xiaoice Neural Rendering (XNR) technology makes
the virtual humans’ facial expressions and body movements look real and
natural.
AI anchors have
appeared in China’s TV programs in the past, but they could be identified
immediately back then. Since the test launch of AI Business Daily on Oct. 11,
2021, N Xiaohei’s Douyin account—the Chinese version of TikTok—has accumulated
over 3 million fans despite the real person not appearing on air for 70 days.
Xiaoice, in collaboration with NBD, has demonstrated its ability to develop
virtual replicas that are almost indistinguishable from real humans through
advanced AI learning and rendering technologies, according to the Chinese
state-run Xinhua News Agency.
According to the
report, Xiaoice Framework’s small-sample learning technology allowed the two
virtual humans to complete their training cycle in one week. Chinese business
commentator Zeng Xiangling said that long training cycles were needed to train
AIs in the past, whereas short training cycles significantly reduce the high
cost of developing AIs.
Not only that, the
Xiaoice Framework’s technical driver makes the end-to-end automation on AI
possible, enabling the AI to collect, edit, and broadcast financial news all by
itself. From reading financial information, generating text and graphs, and
synchronizing with the pre-trained virtual anchor, the AI could broadcast a
complete live video on the network without any human assistance.
“The era of an
unwearied, safe, and reliable AI Being has arrived,” Xiaoice CEO Li Di said.
“It is going to provide a steady news output.”
According to an NBD
report, AI news anchors are modeled using deep learning neural network
technology, enabling them to broadcast in Mandarin, English, and other
languages. The advanced AI technology is now being used to upgrade and transform
the Chinese media industry as well as its film industry. Since the success of
the AI Business Daily program, each NBD news channel will now also fully
collaborate with Xiaoice to create AI TV programs.
Xiaoice, or “Microsoft
Little Ice,” is an AI system developed by Microsoft Asia in 2014. The company
was formerly known as the AI Xiaoice Team of Microsoft Software Technology
Center Asia. It is Microsoft’s biggest independent AI R&D team. In July
2020, Microsoft spun off its Xiaoice business into a separate company, allowing
it to operate as an independent entity in China and other Asian countries. The
Xiaoice Framework is one of the world’s complete artificial intelligence
frameworks with the largest AI interactions globally.
Xiaoice CEO Li Di said
in October 2021 that a large number of AI subjects were created in the past two
years, and the number will rapidly expand. Li expects AIs to eventually
outnumber the human population while incorporating diversity and individual
customization.
On Oct. 20, 2021, the
ninth day after NBD’s AI TV test launch, China’s State Administration of Radio,
Film, and Television, released the section of the “14th Five-Year Plan”
detailing its strategy for news broadcasting and audiovisual networks. The plan
proposes to strengthen AI applications in its news production and broadcasting,
such as promoting the widespread use of virtual anchors in TV programs and
improving news production and broadcasting efficiency using AIs.
AI Risks
Artificial
intelligence does not need to eat or sleep, nor does it get sick or need
overtime pay, and now it can actively generate news content. However, many are
also very concerned about the rapid development of AI.
Mr. Wang, a 20-year IT
industry expert in Japan, told The Epoch Times that artificial intelligence has
far surpassed humans in terms of calculation methods, performance, and learning
ability. But the biggest problem is that it has no ethics, morals, or personal
values. If this AI technology is in the wrong person’s hands, it could be devastating
to mankind.
The current robotics
technology is also very advanced. Some robots can even surpass humans or
animals in many physical activities. Once AIs are given the ability to act
physically, humans may not have the power to resist, granting the people in
control of the AIs the ability to do whatever they desire, Wang added.
Senior media
professional Shi Shan told The Epoch Times that the Chinese regime has no
bottom line for fraud.
“[The CCP’s] AI
technology can now produce a close-to-perfect virtual news anchor, but what is
next? A fake politician? A party leader? Perhaps it has already been done,” Shi
said. “The CCP is great at deceit. The international communities now have to
pay close attention to the authenticity of China’s audiovisual programs and
other media content.”
Big Data
Big data is the key to
AI research and development: the more relevant data, the better the AI is
trained. While rapidly developing its own artificial intelligence, the CCP
deliberately limits the flow of Chinese data abroad.
China uses its massive
population for gathering and developing its local AI technology. Tang Bohua, a
patent examiner in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, told the
Chinese publication of The Epoch Times that the CCP’s lack of regard for human
rights and privacy opens up a huge data set for them, while the United States’
respect for these rights keeps data sets incomplete.
On Jan. 4, the CCP
introduced a new version of its “Cybersecurity Review Measures.” The newly
updated rules will require all Chinese network platform companies with data on
more than 1 million users to undergo a security review before listing abroad.
A law professor at
Taiwan’s National Taipei University of Technology, Christy Jiang, told Radio
Free Asia on Jan. 4 that she believes the one-million user threshold most
likely included all Chinese tech companies that may be seeking listings
overseas.
A Strategic Priority
The CCP has
prioritized AI development in recent years, making it a “key national
development strategy.” It has mandated AI into many aspects of ordinary life,
not only to surveil and control its people but also to use its massive
population to spur development.
To bolster the rapid
development of AI, the CCP has issued a number of supporting policies and
regulations, including its “Made in China 2025” and “13th Five-Year Plan.”
In 2017, China’s State
Council issued the “New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan,”
emphasizing the significance of AI in helping the government understand and
control society.
“Artificial
intelligence technology can accurately perceive, predict, and early-warn the
major trends of society. [It can] grasp people’s cognition and psychological
changes and proactively decide the responses. [This technology] will
significantly improve the ability and level of social governance. It is
irreplaceable for effectively maintaining social stability,” according to the
plan.
“It will have a
profound impact on government management, economic security, social stability,
and global governance.”
Hong Kong finance and
economics columnist Alexander Liao said the CCP believes the emerging
technology revolution—artificial intelligence—can bring new life to the
authoritarian system, which was on the verge of collapse.
In 2013, the CCP
proposed the “Modernization of National Governance System and Governance
Capacity” plan and adopted it five years later in its 2019 plenary. According
to Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese state-run media, the project is “a series of
institutional arrangements aimed to make China’s governance system increasingly
complete, scientifically standardized, and operate more effectively.”
In 2014, the CCP
launched the “Social Credit System,” which linked the social behavior of all
ordinary citizens with the large-scale monitoring system in mainland China. It
adopted facial recognition and big data analysis technology to carry out
large-scale social control with AI.
By 2020, the system
has been integrated into almost all public service fields, including
employment, education, loan services, travel ticket purchases, and more. This
control method has been fully popularized in the form of “health codes” during
the CCP virus pandemic.
“All measures of ‘modernization of governance’ are the basis for strengthening the CCP’s authoritarian rule to ultimately achieving totalitarian control, and everything is rooted in artificial intelligence,” Liao added.
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