It always seemed the newspaper where I worked, The Garden Island on the provincial Hawaiian island of Kauai, was having a hard time hiring reporters. If someone leaves, it could be months before we hire a replacement, if at all.
So, last Thursday I was happy to see that the paper seems to have hired two new journalists – even if they seem a little more odd. In a spacious studio overlooking a tropical beach, James, a middle-aged Asian who can’t seem to blink, and Rose, a younger redhead who struggles to pronounce words like “Hanalei” and “TV,” presented their first newscast , over pulsating music that reminds me of Contenders result. There’s something profoundly off-putting about their performance: James’ hands can’t stop shaking. Rose’s mouth doesn’t always match the words she says.
When James asks Rose about the effect of the strike on local hotels, Rose simply lists the hotels where the strike is taking place. One apartment fire story “serves as a reminder of the importance of fire safety measures,” says James, without naming any of them.
James and Rose, you may have noticed, are not human reporters. They are AI avatars created by an Israeli company called Caledo, which hopes to bring this technology to hundreds of local newspapers in the next year.
“Just watching someone read an article is boring,” says Dina Shatner, who co-founded Caledo with her husband, Moti, in 2023. “But watching people talk about a topic — that’s fascinating.”
The Caledo platform can analyze several pre-written news articles and turn them into a “live broadcast” featuring a conversation between AI anchors like James and Rose, Shatner says. While other companies, such as Channel 1 in Los Angeles, have started using AI avatars to read pre-written articles, this claims to be the first platform to allow hosts to riff on each other. The idea is that the technology can enable small, local newsrooms to create live broadcasts that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to. This can open up opportunities for native advertising and attract new customers, especially among younger people who are more likely to watch videos than read articles.
The Instagram comments under shows that have garnered between 1,000 and 3,000 views are quite scathing. “That’s not it,” says one. “Support local journalism.” Another simply reads: “Nightmares.”
