Kuwait News Introduced Their Artificially Intelligent News Anchor Fedha

Kuwait News introduced their virtual news anchor ‘Fedha’ last weekend. The news medium wants to use her in the future to read online news items.

 

Fedha appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News website on Saturday. “I am Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait to work at Kuwait News via artificial intelligence. Which news do you prefer? Let your opinion be heard”, it sounded in Arabic in a promotional video.

Abdullah Boftain, the deputy editor of Kuwait News, says in The Guardian that it is a test to provide “new and innovative content”. He hopes that in the future, Fedha can learn the Kuwaiti accent and present news items on the Kuwait News Twitter account, which now has 1.2 million followers.

The name Fedha stands for silver and stems from the association between robots and silver and metal. The news anchor is a woman wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt. Her blonde hair and light eyes represent Kuwait’s diverse population. “Fedha represents everyone,” says Boftain.

The first images provoked mixed reactions on social media. AI promises progress in several domains but also creates fear of disinformation and potentially threatens jobs.