The Kuwait News site, which plans to entrust its virtual journalist with the presentation of a news bulletin on Twitter, says it is testing the potential of artificial intelligence for “new and innovative content”.
Communication stunt or media innovation? A Kuwaiti media presented, on Saturday April 8, a virtual journalist generated by artificial intelligence, with the ambition of entrusting her with the presentation of a news newspaper in the Gulf country.
Dressed in a white T-shirt and a black jacket, “Fedha” appeared on the Twitter account of the news site Kuwait News as part of a project still in the testing phase. “I’m Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait who works with artificial intelligence at Kuwait News. What kind of news do you prefer? Let’s hear your opinions”she said in classical Arabic.
Affiliated with Kuwait Timesthe first English-language daily in the Gulf founded in 1961, this site wants to test the potential of artificial intelligence to offer “new and innovative content”, explains its deputy editor, Abdullah Boftain. According to him, the presenter could in the future adopt the Kuwaiti accent and present a news bulletin on the Twitter account of Kuwait News, followed by more than 1.2 million subscribers.
“Fedha is a popular ancient Kuwaiti name that refers to silver, metal. We always imagine robots in silver and metal colors, so we combined the two”, says Abdullah Boftain. As for the physical appearance of the presenter, blonde with light eyes, it reflects, according to him, the diversity of the population in this rich oil country, made up of Kuwaitis and expatriates. “Fedha represents everyone”he says.
View comments
