Tumai is not a human being – she is an avatar, created by artificial intelligence (AI) software.
While Tumai’s appearance is not based on any single human being, she uses an AI-generated copy of the voice of Scrolla’s Zuzile Ndlela.
Zuzile, who is on maternity leave, worked closely with the voice simulation software by spending a day reading hundreds of Scrolla articles to it.
In this first appearance, Tumai presents a brief news bulletin and then introduces herself. She also explains that whenever she, or any version of herself is running, there will be an AI logo on the screen.
Says Tumai: “While I’m AI-generated, every story I read has been thoroughly researched, written, and verified by my human colleagues at Scrolla. For at Scrolla.Africa, we will always serve you with real news for mobile.”
As well as presenting the news, Tumai will also occasionally discuss AI and the opportunities – and threats – it means for us.
The inspiration for Tumai came from the Centre for Innovation & Technology in Bulawayo, which launched the AI news avatar, Alice. Scrolla thanks CITE’s Zenzele Ndebele for his advice.
