‘Fedha’ an AI generated news presenter debuts in Kuwait
Kuwait media outlet, Kuwait news, debuted their first artificial intelligence (AI) generated news presenter ‘Fedha’. The media outlet Kuwaiti News plans to the news presenter Fedha to read online bulletins in future. “Fedha” appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News website on Saturday as an image of a woman, her light-coloured hair uncovered, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt.
Kuwaiti News is affiliated with the Kuwait Times, founded in 1961 as the Gulf region’s first English-language daily.
“Fedha represents everyone,” Abdullah Boftain, deputy editor in chief for both outlets said.
“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.
Boftain further informed that the move is a test of AI’s potential to offer “new and innovative content”.
In future Fedha could adopt the Kuwaiti accent and present news bulletins on the site’s Twitter account, which has 1.2 million followers, he said.
“Fedha is a popular, old Kuwaiti name that refers to silver, the metal. We always imagine robots to be silver and metallic in colour, so we combined the two,” Boftain said.
The presenter’s blonde hair and light-coloured eyes reflect the oil-rich country’s diverse population of Kuwaitis and expatriates, according to Boftain.
Her initial 13-second video generated a flood of reactions on social media, including from journalists.
The rapid rise of AI globally has raised the promise of benefits, such as in health care and the elimination of mundane tasks, but also fears, for example over its potential spread of disinformation, threat to certain jobs, and to artistic integrity.
Kuwait ranked 158 out of 180 countries and territories in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 Press Freedom Index.