Venezuela news agency uses AI anchors amid government crackdown
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El Pana, and his colleague La Chama are generated using artificial intelligence, and they look, sound and move realistically.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CARACAS – One of Venezuela’s newest news anchors sits on a stool, dressed in a flannel shirt and chinos, as he delivers the day’s headlines.
He goes by “El Pana”, the Venezuelan slang for friend.
Only, he is not real.
El Pana, and his colleague “La Chama”, or the girl, are generated using artificial intelligence (AI) and they look, sound and move realistically.
They were created as part of an initiative dubbed “Operation Retweet” by Colombia-based organisation Connectas, led by director Carlos Huertas, to publish news from a dozen independent media outlets in Venezuela and in the process protect reporters as the government has launched a crackdown on journalists and protesters.
“We decided to use artificial intelligence to be the ‘face’ of the information we’re publishing because our colleagues who are still out doing their jobs are facing much more risk,” Mr Huertas said in an interview.
At least 10 journalists have been arrested since mid-June and eight remain imprisoned on charges such as terrorism, according to Reporters Without Borders.
“Here, using artificial intelligence is... almost like a mix between technology and journalism,” Mr Huertas said, explaining that the project looked to “circumvent the persecution and increasing repression” from the government as there would be no one who could face arrest.
The country’s opposition and human rights groups have said recent arrests of protesters, opposition figures and journalists are part of a government crackdown meant to quiet a sometimes violent, month-long election dispute.
Venezuela’s Communications Ministry did not respond to a request for comment about the AI journalism initiative. No official has responded to repeated requests for comment by Reuters about the arrests of journalists in recent weeks.
Both the opposition and President Nicolas Maduro claim victory in the July 28 election.
Mr Maduro, in power since 2013, is backed by the supreme court and the electoral authority, which has not published full vote tallies because of what it says was a cyber attack.
The opposition has shared what it says are over 80 per cent of vote tallies, showing a resounding win for its candidate, Mr Edmundo Gonzalez. Some international observers and many Western countries have said election conditions were unfair and demanded full tallies.
Protests since the vote have led to at least 27 deaths, 2,400 arrests and detentions of opposition figures and protesters have continued as part of the government’s “Operation Knock Knock”.
Mr Maduro and his administration have called protesters fascists and said they are inciting hate at the behest of countries such as the US, which Washington denies. REUTERS
