Article's on UK's Channel 4 "Will AI Take My Job?" TV special

[elvis4life]

This is VERY scary IMO folks:



https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/ai-new ... 236557295/

Oct 20, 2025 1:00pm PT
AI News Anchor Debuts on U.K.’s Channel 4 in Stunt Proving Dangers of Artificial Intelligence

By Ethan Shanfeld

A news special on Britain’s Channel 4 titled “Will AI Take My Job?” investigated how automation is reshaping the workplace and pitting humans against machines. At the end of the hour-long program, a major twist was revealed: the anchor, who narrates and appears throughout the telecast reporting from different locations, was entirely AI-generated.

In the final moments of the special, the host says: “AI is going to touch everybody’s lives in the next few years. And for some, it will take their jobs. Call center workers? Customer service agents? Maybe even TV presenters like me. Because I’m not real. In a British TV first, I’m an AI presenter. Some of you might have guessed: I don’t exist, I wasn’t on location reporting this story. My image and voice were generated using AI.”

The hour aired Monday at 8 p.m. as part of the “Dispatches” documentary program, which Channel 4 says is now the first British television show to feature an AI presenter. The “anchor” was produced by AI fashion brand Seraphinne Vallora for Kalel Productions and was guided by prompts to create a realistic on-camera performance.

“The use of an AI presenter is not something we will be making a habit of at Channel 4 — instead our focus in news and current affairs is on premium, fact checked, duly impartial and trusted journalism — something AI is not capable of doing,” said Louisa Compton, Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs. “But this stunt does serve as a useful reminder of just how disruptive AI has the potential to be — and how easy it is to hoodwink audiences with content they have no way of verifying.”

According to the state-owned network, the stunt complies with Channel 4’s editorial guidelines governing the ethical use of AI, as the reveal at the end is meant to make the viewer reflect on questions relating to trust and authenticity in the digital age.

“Will AI Take My Job?” explores the findings of a Channel 4 survey of 1,000 business leaders in the U.K. According to the survey, 76% of bosses have already adopted AI for tasks previously carried out by humans, and 66% say they are “excited” about the technology’s use in the workplace. 41% said AI adoption has already led to reduced recruitment at their companies, and nearly half said they expect further staff reductions in the next five years.

Channel 4’s stunt follows the media firestorm surrounding Tilly Norwood, an AI-generated “actress” that sparked backlash from actors, agencies and Hollywood unions.

“To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor, it’s a character generated by a computer program that was trained on the work of countless professional performers — without permission or compensation,” SAG-AFTRA wrote in a statement. “It has no life experience to draw from, no emotion and, from what we’ve seen, audiences aren’t interested in watching computer-generated content untethered from the human experience. It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ — it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardizing performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”

https://deadline.com/2025/10/channel-4- ... 236592944/

Channel 4 Plans More On-Air Experiments After AI Presenter Gets UK Agents & Anchors Talking

By Jake Kanter
October 21, 2025 6:55am

EXCLUSIVE: A senior Channel 4 executive has said that the UK network is planning further AI experiments after screening a show hosted entirely by a machine-generated presenter.

Channel 4 unleashed AI journalist Aisha Gaban on Monday night in Will AI Take My Job?, but only revealed to viewers in the final seconds of the documentary that she was not a real human.

The intentionally provocative stunt was firmly within Channel 4’s remit to push creative boundaries and challenge audiences. Filmed as part of C4’s Dispatches strand, it was the network’s second most-watched show of the day, with 564,000 viewers.

Louisa Compton, Channel 4’s head of news and current affairs, told Deadline that it was “quite scary” how quickly Gaban became realistic, as producer Kalel Productions kept iterating on the presenter alongside Seraphinne Vallora, an AI marketing agency.

“This was a stunt designed to address the concerns that come with AI, how easy it is to fool people into thinking that something fake is real,” said Compton, who is leading on artificial intelligence commissioning for Channel 4 and helped draw up the broadcaster’s AI principles.

“I was actually surprised at how human she looked, how she had the odd wrinkle when she spoke, and actually how she managed to convey warmth in places.”



Compton said Gaban’s limitations were obvious, however. Producers were unable to recreate her sitting in a chair interviewing subjects, meaning her on-screen contributions were limited to pieces to camera. Gaban’s words were also scripted by the production team.

Others pointed out that Gaban is not about to start replacing human-led journalism. “We’re still a considerable way from AI being able to do live TV journalism,” a well-known British news anchor told Deadline, adding that it is hard to replicate the ability to “think, analyse and react” with “experience, knowledge and human empathy.”

Compton has no plans to revisit Gaban, but said that AI will continue to be woven into shows she commissions. Channel 4 has experimented with using AI to anonymise interviewees in the past, including in the two-part series Kill List: Hunted by Putin’s Spies.

Compton added that her team is also testing how AI can be used in documentary reconstruction scenes, though these have yet to screen on Channel 4.

The upsides of AI are not lost on others either — even those whose job it is to represent the interests of TV presenters. Mary Greenham, a seasoned agent to stars including Andrew Marr and Fiona Bruce through her agency NewsPresenters, said: “Do I think my presenters are at risk of losing their jobs? No.

“What AI can do is help with certain elements of production. That, in turn, will free up resources so that they can be directed towards actual frontline journalism, to uphold standards and make the editorial judgements that underpin trust.”

Compton said: “Obviously, as a journalist, there’s so much about AI that is alarming, not least the dangerous spread of misinformation. But used responsibly, ethically, and transparently, there are lots of exciting ways it can be used in productions — both on- and off-air.”

She added: “Our priority is on premium, fact-checked, duly impartial journalism, and delivering that — as well as big investigations and analysis — is something AI can never do.”

Jonathan Shalit, chairman of InterTalent Rights Group, which reps the likes of Andrew Neil and Susanna Reid, applauded Channel 4 for sparking a debate about AI presenters. “I would say to people, ‘Rather than look at AI as the enemy, look upon it as a new friend,'” he said. “It’s not going to actually replace a personality. Big stars develop a relationship with the viewers. But for a one-off stunt, it’s brilliant.”

[NinaFromCanadaEh]

resurrecting the Dead

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainme ... 114785.php

to inventing people?

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/till ... 236543362/