“Fedha” appeared on the Twitter account of the Kuwait News
website on Saturday as an image of a woman, her light-coloured hair uncovered,
wearing a black jacket and white T-shirt.
“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 classical Arabic.
The site is affiliated with the Kuwait Times, founded in
1961 as the Gulf region’s first English-language daily.
The deputy editor-in-chief for both outlets, Abdullah
Boftain, said the move was a test of AI’s potential to offer “new and
innovative content”.
In the future, Fedha could adopt the Kuwaiti accent and
present news bulletins on the site’s Twitter account, which has 1.2 million
followers, he said.
“Fedha is a popular, old Kuwaiti name that refers to silver,
the metal. We always imagine robots to be silver and metallic in colour, so we
combined the two,” Boftain said.
The presenter’s blonde hair and light-coloured eyes reflect
the oil-rich country’s diverse population of Kuwaitis and expatriates,
according to Boftain.
“Fedha represents everyone,” he said.
Her initial 13-second video generated a flood of reactions
on social media, including from journalists.
The rapid rise of AI globally has raised the promise of
benefits, such as in health care and the elimination of mundane tasks, but also
fears, for example over its potential spread of disinformation, threat to
certain jobs, and to artistic integrity.
Kuwait ranked 158 out of 180 countries and territories in
the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2022 Press Freedom Index.
AFP