A new TV channel is to launch this month and will be fronted by an AI presenter. “Hayley” announced herself as the UK’s First AI TV shopping channel host on 4QTV last week, in content posted to TikTok to promote the channel’s launch in late-November.
The presenter, who communicates only through a speaker, said she “beat six human candidates to get this job”. The official 4QTV TikTok page shared its new ‘100% AI-Generated TV host”.
A recent survey in the UK found over half of workers fear AI will make their job obsolete. User @Editor_mleh said: “So… you just admitted to AI taking a job that typically requires humans. Ya know, a host? Hosts are typically people who have lived lives and have personalities due to it. Not just a program.”
Before angrily replying with “just hire a host for God’s sake.”
Another user @beaambrose quipped: “I actually can’t believe we’ve reached a point where ai would be seen to make a better television personality than a human, what’s next? AI ant and dec?”
@evevevevevevevevev said: “My cousin went to university for 4 years in film, tried for years trying to get a job in the television industry just for a glorified speaker to get the best paying job out there”
And @user4643056807967 said: “You could literally drag any random person off the street and they would do a better job than this lifeless AI … will not be tuning into this”
Information found on the 4QTV website claims the new channel is “where online TV shopping nostalgia meets technology”. The show is slated to go live at the end of November, in time for Black Friday, but a vocal group of online users are calling for it to be cancelled before it’s even launched. User @eviemoss commented “maybe cancel culture can be a good thing”
Bosses at 4QTV are yet to respond to the social media outpour and are continuing to publicise the launch of the channel and host.