The role of artificial intelligence is under debate in many work sectors — and that includes broadcasting. This week, there’s a new development in the Philippines.
The largest TV network in the Philippines trotted out its latest experiment in AI during halftime of a college basketball game on Sunday.
GMA Integrated News introduced Maia and Marco, a couple of AI presenters doing a 40-second video spot.
The occasion was the tip-off of the basketball season of the National Collegiate Athletics Association, the oldest college league in the Philippines.
One network official said the move provides a “modern and engaging sports news experience.”
However, the bilingual presentation did sound slightly robotic.
Some online critics wrote about what they called “dead eyes” of the AI presenters, which the Straits Times reported look “like an amalgamation of popular celebrities and sportscasters in the Philippines.”
The online version of the Philippine Star complained the AI hosts could not project human emotion.
One commentator called it “tone deaf and insensitive” to premiere AI sportscasters on a college league “with literally thousands of mass communications students hoping to get jobs soon, and not be replaced by AI.”
