Kuwait introduces AI news presenter

Kuwait News, a Kuwaiti media outlet, recently unveiled an AI-generated news presenter named Fedha. The announcement was made public on Kuwait News' verified Twitter profile, where the virtual news presenter was shown speaking in classical Arabic.

Translated to English, Fedha's statement was: "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."

According to AFP, Kuwait News is affiliated with Kuwait Times, the Gulf region's first English daily launched in 1961. As per AFP, Abdullah Boftain, deputy editor-in-chief for both outlets, said the move is a test of AI's potential to offer "new and innovative content".  Boftain stated that they plan to make Fedha use the local Kuwaiti accent when reading news bulletins on their Twitter account, which currently has 1.2 million followers. 

According to Boftain, Fedha is an old Kuwaiti name that refers to silver. As per his statement to AFP, the deputy editor-in-chief added that since robots tend to be imagined as metallic and silver in colour, the media portal combined the two meanings in the name 'Fedha'.