Sogou Introduces World’s First 3D AI News Anchor

VFX Online June 1, 2020, 1:24 pm 1.6k Views

Sogou Introduces World’s First 3D AI News Anchor

The breakthrough of Sogou Vocational Avatar technology empowers news production innovation.

BEIJING, May 21, 2020 – Sogou Inc., an innovator in search and a leader in China’s internet industry, today jointly launched the world’s first 3D AI News Anchor with Xinhua News Agency, a national news agency in China. The 3D AI News Anchor features the latest generation of the Sogou AI Vocational Avatar technology, which employs 3D modeling and cutting-edge AI technologies to create true-to-life avatars of human beings. The breakthrough demonstrates comprehensive improvements in movement and flexibility, interaction capability, and applications, which will further drive innovation in the news industry.

The debut of the 3D AI News Anchor marks a milestone for the Sogou Vocational Avatar technology. Sogou achieved this breakthrough by bringing together 3D and AI, which enables the avatar to be more flexible and adaptive to different settings, creating a seamless experience for viewers. Compared with previous generations of Sogou’s AI News Anchors, the 3D AI News Anchor communicates visual and audio information more naturally and smoothly in real time and in a real-life setting. Not only can the 3D AI News Anchor walk around during a broadcast, it can also perform complex gestures.

Sogou applied cutting-edge algorithms and high-fidelity 3D technologies used in movie productions to create the 3D avatar of Zhao Wanwei, a real-life Xinhua reporter. Sogou’s leading AI technologies, including multi-modal recognition and synthesis, facial recognition and animation, and transfer learning, allow the avatar to intelligently imitate human voices, facial expressions, lip movements, and mannerisms with only text inputs.

The 3D AI News Anchor will be reporting for Xinhua News Agency on the Two Sessions, China’s largest annual legislative meetings, creating a new and dynamic viewing experience.

Since the introduction of its first 2D AI News Anchor in November 2018, Sogou has cooperated with trusted partners at home and abroad to develop avatars that are reshaping communications in various industries, including in media, financial services, and the cultural industry. Leveraging its language-centric AI technologies, Sogou also developed the first Russian-speaking AI news presenter in 2019. Sogou’s Vocational Avatar technology has undergone multiple upgrades to become more capable of capturing linguistic expressions, facial expressions, and body movements.

With the development of 5G technology and holograms, Sogou will continue to explore the application of advanced AI avatars in order to transform the way people communicate and acquire knowledge.

About Sogou

Sogou Inc. is an innovator in search and a leader in China’s internet industry. With a mission to make it easy to communicate and get information, Sogou has grown to become the second-largest search engine by mobile queries and the fourth largest internet company by MAU in China. Sogou has a wide range of innovative products and services, including the Sogou Input Method, which is the largest Chinese language input software for both mobile and PC. Sogou is also at the forefront of AI development and has made significant breakthroughs in voice and image technologies, machine translation, and Q&A, which have been successfully integrated into our products and services.