Robot news anchor makes its debut in Russia
Marie Donlon | April 23, 2019
Promobot cofounder Alexei Yuzhakov poses alongside Alex the robot news anchor. Source: PromobotA robot news anchor has made its debut on Russian state news channel Rossiya 24.
Developed by Promobot, a startup from the city of Perm located 700 miles east of Moscow, the robot called Alex was made in the likeness of Promobot cofounder Alexei Yuzhakov. Alex has already presented news items on the channel, reporting on topics such as agricultural news and micro-finance.
Alex is limited to facial gestures and neck movements, made possible by silicone appearance and 29 embedded motors. However, the makers of Alex believe that a final version of the robot, slated to be complete later this year, will have fully mobile limbs. Development of Alex, which began back in 2017, has cost roughly $15,600 and the company has received requests for 12 more humanoids.
According to Rossiya, this is the first time a robot has presented the news. The network asked viewers to rate the robot's performance and if robots could replace broadcasters - and was met with a resounding "no." Viewers called Alex disheveled, unfocused and awkward, and deemed it a promotional stunt.
Alex is not the first attempt to automate the news industry. Last year, an AI debuted in China, in what was called a world's first. China’s state news agency Xinhua News debuted two virtual news anchors: one that delivered the news in Chinese and another in English. Following was the debut of a female AI news anchor, also at Xinhua News.
Summer-vehr . . . .
..."The dangers to journalists in Russia have been well known since the early 1990s but concern at the number of unsolved killings soared after Anna Politkovskaya's murder in Moscow on 7 October 2006. While international monitors spoke of several dozen deaths, some sources within Russia talked of over two hundred fatalities.[18][19]
Remembrance Day of Journalists Killed in the Line of Duty in Russia is observed on 15 December every year.
Assaults on journalistsEdit
Since the early 1990s, a number of Russian reporters who have covered the situation in Chechnya, contentious stories on organized crime, state and administrative officials, and large businesses have been killed. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since 1992, 50 journalists have been murdered for their professional activity in Russia (which made it the third deadliest country for journalists in the 1992–2006 period):[20] 30 journalists from 1993 to 2000, and 20 journalists since 2000.[21][22]"...
https://en.m.wikiped
Sure it's the only safe way to report the news...anonymously..
You never have to worry about what they will say. It is a wet dream of all repressive regimes, to present the appearance of a free press but still have total control of the messaging.