"Chinese viewers were greeted with a digital version of a regular Xinhua news anchor named Qiu Hao. The anchor, wearing a red tie and pin-striped suit, nods his head in emphasis, blinking and raising his eyebrows slightly."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/09/worlds-first-ai-news-anchor-unveiled-in-china
Photograph: Xinhua news
Well, that had to be expected. Such a virtual anchor is much cheaper than a real person, doesn't age or get ill, doesn't want time off ect.
They are even working hard on virtual actors for movies. Also famous actors that are dead since many years, like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, John Wayne. Or letting "real" historic people appear in movies, like JFK, Mao, Churchill and so on.
With CGI everything is possible today.
I'm surprised it took this long--they prepped us with Max Headroom decades ago
Max Headroom.... well, there was still a lot of room for improvement in those days. And I dont think people would want a obviously artificial person as a anchor.
But today, its become really difficult to tell if its a sim or a real person. Especially in american TV, where a lot of real people look artificial.