Artificial Intelligence has made another appearance at a news outlet, this time in Kuwait.
Two weeks ago, we told you about an AI driven anchor working named Sana a regular shift for the Indian media group India Today. On Saturday, a Kuwaiti media outlet unveiled a virtual news presenter named Fedha.
“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 Arabic in a Twitter announcement.
Abdullah Boftain, deputy editor in chief for both the Kuwait Times and Kuwait News, told The Guardian Fedha was a test of the new technologies potential to offer “new and innovative content”.
He also said Fedha could adopt the Kuwaiti accent and present news on the site’s Twitter account, which has 1.2 million followers.
“Fedha is a popular, old Kuwaiti name that refers to silver,” he said. “We always imagine robots to be silver and metallic in colour, so we combined the two.”
Kuwait ranked 158 out of 180 countries and territories in the Reporters Without Borders 2022 Press Freedom Index.