Channel 4 announces UK television's first AI generated presenter

Channel 4 Dispatches have claimed to be the first British TV programme to use an AI presenter in their show Will AI Take My Job?, where they investigated how Artificial Intelligence is changing the workplace

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Channel 4 has announced that their investigative programme, Dispatches, is the first UK show to use an Artificial Intelligence (AI) presenter.

In an episode that aired this evening (20 October), called Will AI Take My Job?, Dispatches investigated how AI is changing the workplace in multiple industries, such as music, medicine and law. At the end of the episode, to highlight how realistic AI generated content is, the show revealed its own presenter was created by AI.

Aisha Gaban, the name given to the AI presenter, said: “AI is going to touch everybody’s lives in the next few years. And for some, it will take their jobs. Call centre 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.”

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To create images and voices, AI generators use trained neural networks to turn a text prompt into something visual and/or audio. These networks have been trained on an existing database of images and sounds created by humans so that the computer can recognise patterns, styles and features.

In the past few years, AI technology has progressed quickly and become increasingly available for tools in the job market. Dispatches revealed that nearly three quarters of UK bosses have already introduced some form of AI into tasks that used to be done by humans. For instance, where previously note-taking in a meeting may be done by a secretary, it can now be done by an AI tool.

AI generated images have been a particular point of contention in the entertainment industry, as actors have worried that the use of AI created faces and voices will push real people out, as they won't be used for extra work or for small roles, and that their own likeness will be used without compensation.

This fear was one of the key points raised during the SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. The American actors' union demanded members be compensated when AI performances were generated from their work and that those wishing to create an AI generated image be fully transparent and gain consent before doing so.

The union's condemnation of AI 'actors' has continued into 2025. At the Zurich Film Festival, the world's first AI 'actor' Tilly Norwood was introduced and its creators faced immediate backlash from SAG-AFTRA and well-known actors, such as Emily Blunt and Natasha Lyonne. While its creators have said Tilly is not designed to take jobs from actors, they have also said they hope to sign the AI creation with a talent agency.

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The union said: "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 … It doesn’t solve any ‘problem’ – it creates the problem of using stolen performances to put actors out of work, jeopardising performer livelihoods and devaluing human artistry.”

Dispatches' AI presenter was created as part of a stunt for the show and Channel 4 have suggested they will not be using it regularly to replace a human presenter. Louisa Compton, the network's head of news and current affairs, said: "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.

“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.”

Stream Will AI Take My Job? Dispatches on Channel 4

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