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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
An artificial intelligence (AI) generated news presenter has been unveiled by Kuwaiti media outlet, with plans for it to read online bulletins.
“Fedha” appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News website on Saturday as an image of a woman, wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt,with her light-coloured hair uncovered
“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.
The site is affiliated with the Kuwait Times, founded in 1961 as the Gulf region’s first English-language daily.
The deputy editor-in-chief for both outlets, Abdullah Boftain, said the move was a test of AI’s potential to offer “new and innovative content.”
“In the future, Fedha could adopt the Kuwaiti accent and present news bulletins on the site’s Twitter account, which has 1.2 million followers.
“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
According to Boftain, the presenter’s blonde hair and light-coloured eyes reflect the oil-rich country’s diverse population of Kuwaitis and expatriates.
“Fedha represents everyone,” he said.
