Newspaper Fires Two AI Reporters After Bizarre Behavior

Hello!

You're Fired

Hawaiian local broadcaster and newspaper The Garden Island has fired the two AI bots it recently introduced as its new anchors.

As Wired journalist Guthrie Scrimegour — who was also previously let go by the paper — reports, the bots known as James and Kai were let go just two months after making their debut.

At the time, the newspaper made a big fuss about becoming the first paper in the country to adopt AI-powered news anchors.

James and Kai were the product of an Israeli AI company called Caledo. They quickly drew attention for their stiff, unnervingly monotonous deliveries. As Scrimegour observed, James used the exact same matter-of-fact tone whether covering a vigil for a labor massacre or a fall pumpkin giveaway.

The pair also frequently mispronounced Hawaiian names and even basic English words such as “rifle.” Viewers were further unsettled by the bots’ glitching hands and their complete inability to blink.

That uncanny quality quickly alienated the Garden Island’s audience. Many viewers accused the paper of replacing human journalists with AI simply to cut costs. Almost every Instagram video featuring James and Kai was met with immediate criticism in the comments.

“This is so creepy, extremely uncanny valley,” one user wrote beneath a segment on suicide prevention. Another commented: “This ain’t that. Keep journalism local.”

Tough Job Market

Meanwhile, Caledo declared the experiment a success in a statement to Wired and announced plans to offer the technology to other U.S. newspapers.

Scrimegour, however, was relieved to see the bots go. “While James and Kai did not actively supplant any existing newsroom jobs,” he wrote, “I was concerned that the effort diverted resources that could be used on traditional media expenses, like human reporters, photographers, and editors.”

The Garden Island, already “severely under-resourced,” had been acquired by a larger media conglomerate earlier this year. Whether the AI experiment delivered any real savings remains unclear: the parent company reportedly failed to sell a single advertisement against the videos.

“I wish James and Kai the best of luck in their future endeavors — it’s a tough job market out there,” Scrimegour concluded.

Also read:

• Frequently Asked Questions About Reasons to Sell Your House for Cash
• 6 Well Known Marketing Disasters In History & Lessons To Learn
• Less speculation, more information.

Thank you!
Join us on social networks!
See you!