Xinhua unveils Xinyan and Xinyu, two life-size humanoid robot news anchors built with UBTech, which it calls the world's first

Xinhua, China's state news agency, unveiled two humanoid robot news anchors, named Xinyan and Xinyu, on 5 November. It showed them at a forum on AI held as part of the 7th World Media Summit in Beijing. Xinhua's English page says: “Xinhua has unveiled the world's first bionic humanoid robot news anchors at the World Media Summit in Beijing.” That description is the agency's own.

Xinhua's Chinese-language report says it built the robots with the robot maker UBTech, and that the film director Zhang Yimou led their visual design. The robots are built at human scale and connect to Xinhua Yudian, Xinhua's AI agent for political news.

In that report, UBTech founder and chief executive Zhou Jian says the robots pull reviewed, authoritative news in real time, which he says reduces the risk of generative AI making things up. He lists planned uses including study-tour sites, city reception halls and cultural exchange abroad. Qian Tong, director of Xinhua's New Media Center, describes the robots as a new role in the newsroom, helping with broadcasts, delivery in several languages and on-site interaction.

Unlike on-screen virtual presenters, these are physical humanoids, and they give UBTech a public-facing job for its robots outside the factory.

• Claimed Xinhua says it has unveiled the world's first bionic humanoid robot news anchors at the World Media Summit in Beijing. Xinhua (English)
• Confirmed Xinhua's Chinese report names the robots Xinyan and Xinyu, UBTech as co-developer and Zhang Yimou as visual designer, and says they connect to its Xinhua Yudian AI agent. Xinhua (Chinese)
• Claimed UBTech's Zhou Jian says drawing on reviewed news in real time reduces the risk of generative AI making things up. Xinhua (Chinese)