Is China on the forefront of developing AI and VR in the media industry and globally?

Last week we provided an overview on how AI affects the media and PR industry from a global perspective. In this feature we look more closely at Mainland China as its government officials set out to become the world’s leader in AI by 2030. So, what does this mean for Chinese media and PR landscape?

Fourteen Chinese AI companies have become unicorns, while most of these evolve around robots, drones and facial recognition, the PR and media landscape in mainland China is starting to join the AI game.

Probably the most well-known Chinese AI media application is ByteDance’s Toutiao. It sources content from thousands of partner sites for 120 million daily users who spend an average of 74 minutes on the app daily. But while it impacts readers, it doesn’t reimagine content itself.

Xinhua Zhiyun, on the contrary, co-invested by Xinhua News Agency and Alibaba, focuses specifically on media creation. It launched last year and specialises in using AI at every stage of news production, from finding leads to news-gathering, editing, distribution and finally analysing its performance. It is a major part of Xinhua’s push to become an intelligent newsroom through AI.

Shang Yanqing, VP of New Media at Xinhua Zhiyun, adds, “Bringing AI to newsrooms can improve accuracy, enhance data analysis, and increase efficiency. It sets journalist free from grunt routine for more creative and innovative work.”

For example, according to data provided by Xinhua News Agency, during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 37,581 machine-generated videos were created by MAGIC, an AI media production platform from Xinhua Zhiyun, coordinated by a small team of 10 editors. 

“We aim to reshape media resources of news and build up a news infrastructure platform,” says Yanqing, who believes that the system can “quickly generate images and video manuscript” to provide a new experience for journalists and the audience.

In terms of applying technology in the newsroom, China’s media seem fearless to show their ambitions and has been at the forefront of most recent developments. Last week, Xinhua News Agency jointly launched the first-of-its-kind AI-synthetised anchor in the World Internet Conference. This AI anchor combined with the AI-powered visual processing technology is based on a real person and able to “speak” and “react” automatically like a real human. 

In fact, it wasn’t the first time an AI-alike robot has been brought on screen in China. Shanghai Dragon TV “employed” an AI reporter to comment on big news events in 2015. Coincidentally, in Nanning, an AI robot hosted a new media programme, interacting with another anchor to search for and analyse data. From state-run media to regional TV stations, Chinese media are ready to revolutionise the industry.

Using VR to become more relevant

If AI benefits journalists to free them from mundane work, VR news, also called “immersive journalism”, opens up a new space for journalists to think of their work from their audience’s perspective.

Ivy Guo, a Brand Manager at Kandao Technology, experienced a big transition after joining its VR tech team: “It changes the way of storytelling and news reading.”

Previously a Multimedia Journalist, Ivy produced documentaries on local life, restaurants, performances and profiles. She recorded and presented what she had seen in a third-person’s view, but she felt it wasn’t very “engaging” as one couldn’t feel and live the spot with their own senses.

“It is like one of the ‘I-felt-I-was-there’ kind of experiences. With VR the audience can see the environment from the camera’s point of view and immerge into a visual reality situation.” Xiaotong adds that the best application in the news production for VR is for feature stories or documentaries rather than breaking news, politics or economic conference. “If people do not enjoy being ‘there’, it would be pointless to force them to experience ‘there’.”

But Ivy also argues that currently the drawback with VR in China is that only major platforms like Iqiyi and Xinhua have VR channels. She says this is partly due to questions of whether or not the government will allow channels to develop or publish as they seek to oversee all content within mainland China.

China-made AI for China

For the PR world, AI, at the moment, won’t defer much in terms of geographical location. But where the opportunities lay for mainland-based PR professionals are in China’s quest to become the AI world leader by 2030.

Simon Vericel, Founder of tech PR agency Influence Matters, argues that Chinese AI innovation will focus mostly on Chinese applications because of the different environment.

“To develop an AI brain capable of efficiently solving communication challenges in China,” Simon says, “developers will need to train the AI to work with the Chinese language, culture, emotions, etc.”

Wang Yufei, Partner and CSO of Beijing 11bee Technology which aims on developing an integrated application of AI and big data, conquers that AI developments in mainland China are dominated by local markets interests.

This is where mainland Chinese communicators may be able to provide input. In addition, besides the fact that China’s tech operates in silo from western applications and its super apps are far more all-encompassing, the western world is also concerned about how Chinese companies deal with privacy and security. Chinese tech and AI companies face a huge communication battle when it comes to expanding globally as regimes are worried about spying, back doors and other cyber vulnerabilities.

And then there is the self-created crisis on the use of AI. In September this year a major AI platform was accused of using humans rather than AI for its simultaneous interpretation tools. The PR-team went into overdrive when its CEO posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo, which according to the company’s PR officer was not an official response…

As such, while mainland Chinese companies are developing AI technology across industries including the media, it seems unlikely for the time being that the western world will welcome it with open arms. Even in relatively innocent industries such as the media, people might be skeptical because who knows if AI anchors have learned to ‘self-censor’, report in biased manners or are simply propaganda machines?

After all, the AI anchor still needs to be provided with scripts. “I, who was wholly cloned from a real-life host, have mastered broadcasting as well as the real host,” the Chinese-speaking AI anchor said. “As long as I am provided with text, I can speak as a news host.”

This article first appeared in Telum Media's East Asia PR Alert and China Alert