Xinhua develops AI information. (Photo: Xinhua)Hanoi (VNA) - President of China’s Xinhua News Agency, Cai Mingzhao, has said thatinnovation is essential for the development of a news agency in an interview onthe occasion of the 44th OANA Executive Board Meeting in Hanoi on April 19.
The following is the full text of the interview:
“Question 1: Xinhua’s AI Media Brain has been used for more than one year.Could you please let us know what has Xinhua learned in implementing theproject to reform news production using AI?
Answer: Developed by Xinhua, Media Brain was China's first AI media platform.Its newly launched short-video intellectual production platform MAGIC relies onintelligent technologies and human-machine collaboration to significantlyimprove the efficiency of news production.
During the 2018 FIFA World Cup, MAGIC only needed a few editors to produce37,581 short videos. A video about scoring a goal took only six seconds tomake, the quickest video it's made yet.
During the 2018 China International Import Expo, MAGIC was combined with"Live Cloud," a mobile platform for news gathering, generation, anddistribution, to form a new content-producing assembly line. Within six days ofthe expo, 554 short videos were made and viewed over 38 million times.
During the national legislative and political advisory sessions in 2019, MAGICwas used to interpret the government work report. MAGIC produced short videosvia intelligent analysis and editing, and using big data and artificialintelligence, concluded that the Chinese government's prediction and decisionon the economic situation were accurate. The first video received over 130million views.
AI anchor: Xinhua News Agency launched the world's first "AI anchor,"using the latest AI technologies to make a clone of a human news anchor.
The "AI anchor" was simulated with technologies on the synthesis andin-depth study of voices, lip movements, and facial expressions taken fromnewscasts with human anchors. It can automatically turn Chinese or Englishtexts into videos containing corresponding content and ensure that the audio isconsistent with the facial expressions and lip movements in the video.
The AI anchor can transmit the same information that a human anchor can, theonly difference is that an AI anchor can work 24 hours without feeling tired.As long as text inputs are received, the AI anchor can start workingimmediately without ever stopping.
With the development of 5G, AI and the Internet of things, the media landscapeis undergoing profound readjustments, and the public opinion ecology has changedsignificantly. We should carefully study and explore means of innovation injournalism, actively transform news media, and provide users with more andhigher-quality news information products with more adequate reports.
Question 2: The theme of the 44th OANA EBM is “For a professional andinnovative journalism”. What do you think about the theme and issues on theagenda of the upcoming meeting?
Answer: The 44th meeting of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA)Executive Board is themed "For a Professional and InnovativeJournalism." It is a topic ofpractical significance for news agencies which are undergoing majortransformations.
We now live in a society inundated with information, and audiences and readersare likely to feel overwhelmed when faced with a vast amount of information.What they need are not rumors or hearsay, but exclusive, authoritative andprofessional information, what they need is accurate interpretations andin-depth analysis of information. News agencies have extensive news gatheringnetworks, professional reporters, abundant news resources and swift respondingmechanisms, which guarantee the authority, professionalism and efficiency ofnews reports. We must give full play toour advantages to provide high-quality news services to better satisfy theneeds of our audiences and readers.
Innovation is essential for the development of a news agency. The innovation intoday's media industry is at a tremendously fast pace. A news agency, as the"medium of media," must take a leading role in innovation andtherefore, better serve its subscribers. We should adapt to the development ofnew media, which has the trend of being mobile, visualized, intelligent andsocialized. We should prompt innovations more actively and lead the trend usingtechnologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, big data and the Internet ofThings. Meanwhile, innovation is a systematic project. It is related toinstitutional mechanisms, content products, technical support, and teambuilding. We must work hard on further convergence, optimizing organizationstructures, reforming workflows, integrating information resources andimproving supply systems to realize the systematic innovation of journalism andcommunication, and therefore optimizing and upgrading the overall work of thenews agency.
When facing the tremendous shift within the media industry, a news agencyshould have a clear and accurate assessment of the trends, and better adapt to,participate in and lead the transformation, based on its own advantages andcharacteristics.
The discussion of issues faced by news agencies and measures to improve newsagency efficiency in the digital era requires collaborative thinking and is ofgreat value to help news agencies stay vigorous in the digital era. I hope thismeeting will ignite more sparks of wisdom and offer more ideas and options forthe development of news agencies around the world.”-VNA
