ACT NEWS Leap into Future: How AI-Powered Avatars are Shaping News Reporting?

In an astonishing development, an Israeli news outlet ACT NEWS has set a new benchmark in digital journalism.  The media outlet claims that it has presented “the world’s first fully AI automated news edition presented by digital avatar clones.” Furthermore, it is pertinent to mention here that ACT NEWS has been growing in popularity on the short video social platform TikTok.

The appearance of AI-powered digital avatars of famous news reporters Miri Michaeli and Amit Segal illustrates a paradigm shift in newscasting. These digital clones will be delivering live news on the screen, while the journalists will be able to work on news stories in the field simultaneously.

The new paradigm shift seeks to engage diverse audiences around the globe particularly the social media users who have less exposure to traditional news outlets.

In this regard, co-founder and chief news anchor of ACT NEWS Michaeli said,

Like every start-up, our project was born out of a personal need. My dream has always been to be able to report from two places simultaneously, provide in-depth analysis, and film a report simultaneously. Today, we offer this possibility to journalists all over the world.

However, on the other side, there are some moral and ethical concerns regarding this new development. One apprehension is how viewers can tell if the news is provided by human reporters or their AI avatars clone, thus affecting transparency. ACT NEWS addresses the issue by having human journalists pre-approve quotes from their digital clones to ensure transparency. However, some fear this control may still lead to bias in news presentations.

On the other hand, full automation via AI also raises ethical concerns. While AI processes data in an efficient manner, there’s still a risk of unintentional biases and inaccuracies. Moreover, there’s also a concern about job security for human journalists if AI clones become more mainstream, thus mitigating opportunities for investigative journalism and in-depth coverage.

Despite these concerns, ACT NEWS has found success on TikTok with millions of views and substantial investments supporting the venture.

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