“I’m Fedha, the first presenter in Kuwait who works with artificial intelligence at Kuwait News. What kind of news do you prefer?”

Introducing herself in classical Arabic, Fedha debuted on the Kuwait News Twitter account.

The AI-generated news anchor appeared as an image of a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes, dressed in a black blazer and a white blouse.

Kuwait News introduced the country’s first virtual news presenter to the outlet’s Twitter account, which boasts 1.2 million followers. The news outlet plans to use Fedha to read online news bulletins. In the future, the virtual presenter could also adopt the Kuwaiti accent. 

أول مذيعة في #الكويت تعمل بالذكاء الاصطناعي

• #فضة.. مذيعة #كويت_نيوز الافتراضية

• ما هي نوعية الأخبار التي تفضلونها بتقديم #فضة زميلتنا الجديدة؟ .. شاركونا آراءكم pic.twitter.com/VlVjasSdpb

— كويت نيوز (@KuwaitNews) April 8, 2023

The site is affiliated with the Kuwait Times, founded in 1961 as the Gulf region’s first English-language daily. 

Abdullah Boftain, Deputy Editor in Chief for both outlets, said it tested AI’s potential to offer “new and innovative content.”

“Fedha is a popular, old Kuwaiti name that refers to silver, the metal. We always imagine robots to be silver and metallic in color, so we combined the two,” he said. Boftain also added the presenter’s blonde hair and light-colored eyes reflect the country’s diverse population of Kuwaitis and expats.

In 2018, China’s news state agency revealed its AI-generated news presenter, wearing a sharp suit and robotic voice.

According to a report by the World Economic Forum, AI is expected to replace 85 million jobs worldwide by 2025. However, the report also noted that it would create 97 million new jobs in the same timeframe.