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https://www.techdirt.com/2024/11/04/editor-in-chief-of-rt-russias-main-propaganda-network-says-many-of-its-presenters-are-ai-generated-if-you-can-believe-her/>
"
RT, formerly
Russia Today, has appeared a few times here on
Techdirt. As
the long article about
RT on Wikipedia explains, the TV channel has morphed
from an attempt to create a state-supported international news network along
the lines of the
BBC or
France 24, but one that offered a Russian
perspective on the world, to something that is now regarded as little more than
a mouthpiece for Kremlin propaganda (disclosure: I was interviewed by
Russia
Today a couple of times over a decade ago.).
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
RT is now banned in many Western
nations, but still commands audiences in other countries and online. As a
result, considerable resources are still expended on
RT and on the programs
it produces. It is also continuing to explore new ways to reach people, and
perhaps to save money, judging by a story on the independent Russian media site
Agentstvo. It reports on statements made by
RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita
Simonyan (original in Russian, translation by DeepL):
A ‘significant proportion’ of RT’s TV presenters do not exist, they have
been created by artificial intelligence, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief
of the state channel, told TVC [TV Centre, a channel owned by the city
administration of Moscow]. According to the propagandist, the artificial
presenters also run their own social networks.
‘We have a significant proportion of TV presenters who do not exist. They
don’t exist, they are artificial completely. This person doesn’t exist, and
never did. This face never existed, we generated the voice, everything else,
the character,’ the RT chief said.
One of the non-existent presenters had invited people to subscribe to her
Telegram channel, promising the first readers [of the Telegram channel]
amnesty ‘when we come to power,’ Simonyan retold the joke of her
‘colleague.’"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
