A small Hawaiian weekly is using AI to populate its newscasts.
TGI Today, a product of The Garden Island newspaper, was launched late in August, featuring presenters created by AI. It
was created using the AI platform of Caledo News.
Serving the island of Kauai, the AI-driven
newscast appears twice per week.
“To my knowledge we are one of the very first publishers in the U.S. to create a local news broadcast solely utilizing AI
and avatars,” says Aaron Kotarek, senior vice president of audience and operations at owner Oahu Publications. “With increased speed and efficiency in mind, parlayed with the ability to
reach new audiences, I am quite sure TGI Today will be of significant value to our viewers on Kauai.”
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The company insists that there will be no staff
layoffs resulting from the AI usage.
However, the use of AI has drawn some criticism.
“There’s this principle called the ‘uncanny valley,’ where something looks almost real or almost true, but it’s not quite there and it gives off this creepy
feel,” says Brett Oppegaard, director of the journalism program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, according to Hawaii News Now. “And that’s what I see when I watch these
broadcasts.”
For its part, Caledo News defends the technology.
"Caledo’s platform enables publishers to
effortlessly create studio-quality news shows, based on existing editorial content,” says Dina Shatner, CEO of Caledo News.
Shatner adds that
publishers :can now unlock exciting new revenue streams on their website, app and social channels."