German state-funded international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) is experimenting with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) voices for its TV programmes.
"We are testing the use of synthetic voices," programme director Nadja Scholz told dpa in Berlin. Scholz is also a member of dpa's oversight board.
Voices generated with the help of AI could be used for trailers or programme bridges, which are previews shown between two segments in a television programme.
Scholz said that there are not plans to use AI as presenters: "We want to free up our journalists for tasks such as research, contextualization and analysis."
The broadcaster is also experimenting with using AI-generated animated figures as hosts for short videos on social media platforms, where viewers would clearly recognize that the hosts are not humans and the use of AI avatars would fit with the programming.
Scholz said DW is also testing whether AI can create images or video sequences from raw material that could serve as the basis for programme contributions.
"We have been working with AI for several years because we have 32 programme languages. We have been using AI for automated translation for a long time because it saves us a huge amount of time," said Scholz, who has been programme director at DW since 2023.
