Jeju Government’s Newly-Hired News Presenter Sparks Debate Online

The Jeju provincial government recently hired a new female news anchor to conduct its weekly YouTube program, but netizens are not happy about it.

The presenter appeared on a video broadcast on Friday, March 8, and introduced herself as J-na. She mentioned that she will be delivering policy updates and local news from the island moving forward.

Though J-na appeared to meet all the standard expectations of a news presenter, the reason behind netizens’ disapproval of her is the fact that she is not a real person but an AI-programmed avatar. The Jeju provincial government pays ₩600,000 KRW (about $457 USD) a month to a private contractor company that developed the program and is in charge of its maintenance.

A Jeju official clarified that the decision to “hire” an AI-based news presenter was primarily driven by the aim of cost-cutting.

Employing human news presenters incurs significant costs, so we sought an alternative and opted for J-na.

— An official from Jeju provincial government

The name J-Na is derived from the initial letter of the following words, “Jeju,” “News,” and “AI.”

J-Na’s first on-screen appearance on March 8 saw her in a blue dress, reading the news and even swaying slightly back and forth, seemingly to appear more human-like. However, at the corner of the screen, a real human sign language expert was seen offering a real-time interpretation of the news presented by her.

[Video could not be displayed]

When the news surfaced online, many netizens voiced their distaste for the government replacing human jobs with AI for cost reduction when South Korea is already battling unemployment.

However, J-Na is not the first AI-made news presenter in South Korea. In 2020, MBN became the first local broadcaster to unveil an AI presenter modeled after a real human presenter, Kim Joo Ha. The AI broadcaster still appears on daily programs along with her human counterpart.

The real Kim Joo Ha (left) and AI Kim Joo Ha (right)

Last year, SBS also appointed an AI-powered virtual presenter, Zae In, for its current affairs program Morning Wide Part 3.

Zae In

YTN also joined in last September and introduced Y-Go and Y-On, male and female AI news presenters, respectively.