The Next Job Being Taken Over by Robots? TV News Anchor

The robots will come for all of our jobs one day, whether you’re a factory worker or a surgeon. In Japan, that reality now seems to be coming for television news anchors. According to Live Science and The Wall Street Journal, a humanoid robot named Erica is on the cusp of her debut on TV news.

Erica, who was originally built to work as a receptionist, was created at Osaka University’s Intelligent Robotics Laboratory and has been called the “the most life-like (and creepiest) robot ever built.” Right now, it seems her career will reach far beyond working a reception desk. Osaka University's Hiroshi Ishiguro, who calls himself the robot’s “father,” told The Wall Street Journal that she will make her television debut sometime in 2018, with the paper saying it will likely happen in April.

Designed to look like a 23-year-old woman, she has shockingly realistic-looking skin and facial expressions. Her speech, tinged with an English accent, is a little stilted, but her responses to questions largely sound pretty natural. She can also tell jokes that are just as groan-worthy as the ones that fly back and forth during the banter between news anchors.

She can’t walk around the room by herself, but she can sit behind a desk and move her neck, shoulders, and waist autonomously. She has depth sensors to help her sense where people are standing in a room and can recognize which direction sound is coming from, turning to face someone speaking to her. She’s also equipped with face-recognition technology.

Considering that The Washington Post already has a robot news reporter that writes stories and tweets, getting a robot to recite a script in front of a camera seems fairly easy. All she has to do is sit there and read the news. But Erica’s lifelike demeanor may make her a more capable on-air personality than we can imagine right now. It might not be long before she wins her first broadcast journalism award.

[h/t Live Science]