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China Launches First Robot News Anchor

Artificial Intelligence news anchor. Reuters
Artificial Intelligence news anchor. Reuters
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China Launches First Robot News Anchor

Artificial Intelligence news anchor. Reuters
Artificial Intelligence news anchor. Reuters

In a first-of-its-kind innovation worldwide, the Chinese news agency Xinhua, in partnership with tech firm Sogou Inc., has launched an AI-powered robot anchor. According to Xinhua, the "AI Synthetic Anchor" can read texts as naturally as a professional news anchor.

The robot "anchor" is an innovative technological breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence. It is also the first complete experiment to integrate audio and video recordings in real-time with a virtual character through artificial intelligence.

The debut of the new technology came at the fifth edition of World Internet Conference in the eastern Chinese town of Wuzhen in the Zhejiang Province, east China.

The anchor can produce sounds, sentences, and lips movement, like a real news anchor. The designers have set up a model integrating these features, in which they used a pivotal technique to produce video that is identical to the news content.

The "AI Synthetic Anchor" will work for the Xinhua agency and will present the news in Chinese and English. Editors are set to provide the news content constantly as the robot anchor is designed to work all day, every day.

The "robot anchor" boosts the efficiency of TV news, reduces program recording costs, and increases the coverage speed during emergency events and so forth.

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Chip Design Software Firms Climb as US Lifts Curbs on China Exports

Semiconductor chips are seen on a printed circuit board in this illustration picture taken February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
Semiconductor chips are seen on a printed circuit board in this illustration picture taken February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
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Chip Design Software Firms Climb as US Lifts Curbs on China Exports

Semiconductor chips are seen on a printed circuit board in this illustration picture taken February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration
Semiconductor chips are seen on a printed circuit board in this illustration picture taken February 17, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration

Shares of Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems jumped on Thursday after the US lifted export curbs on chip design software to China, easing uncertainty around access to the crucial market.

The restrictions, announced in late May, had essentially cut off the market that brings over 10% of revenue for the industry's major players, hitting forecasts and knocking down shares.

The export resumption means both the companies will only lose one month of revenue in the current quarter, Mizuho analysts said. The easing trade tensions may also clear the path for long-awaited Chinese approval of Synopsys's $35 billion buyout of engineering software firm Ansys, the analysts added, Reuters reported.

Synopsys, which had pulled its forecast in May due to the curbs, rose 5.5%. The company said on Wednesday it is still assessing the impact of export restrictions on China on its financials.

Cadence and Ansys gained 6.1% and 3.5%, respectively, while Germany's Siemens, the third major player in the electronic design automation tools sector, was up 1.5% in Frankfurt.

"This marks a distinct warming of relations and a small ceasefire in the chips war," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Still, she cautioned that the move did not signal a broader shift on high-end chip exports from companies such as Nvidia. "The US will remain concerned about the technological prowess China has developed, and its use of US intellectual property."

Successive US administrations have sought to restrict China's access to advanced American chip technology, citing concerns that it could be used to strengthen Beijing's military.

But the export curbs have also fueled a surge in domestic chip design activity in China, aided by generous state subsidies. They have also stoked fears of retaliation, with analysts warning that Beijing could delay or block approval of the Synopsys-Ansys deal in response.

The deal, which has received merger clearance in every jurisdiction other than China according to the companies, carries a deadline of July 15 for its closure with an option to extend until January next year.