La Chama and El Pana, the two AI avatars that Venezuelan journalists use to escape Maduro’s censorship

Arrests, searches and inspections of mobile phones; Venezuelan journalists denounce censorship and repression against the population and the press since the presidential elections of July 28. Carrying out this job has become so complicated that A large group of journalists have decided to protect themselves behind digital anonymity using new technologies such as artificial intelligence.

A man and a woman, always dressed the same way and moving repetitively, report for a few weeks on the political and social situation of the Latin American country. They warn from their first appearance that they are not real.but avatars created by AI as part of what is called Operation Retweet.

“Operation Retuit was born as a strategy to escape the censorship and repression suffered by journalists in Venezuela,” explains the website Connectas.org. “The use of artificial intelligence is not a fad,” the statement continues. This journalistic platform based in Colombia focuses its information on all the countries of South America, now more focused on the Venezuelan situation.

The two avatars are a woman and a first name that has been given the name Chama and Pana, a familiar form characteristic of Venezuela to designate a girl or a boy. In the videos you can see this Both avatars repeat facial and arm gestures in a loop and sometimes in reverse. Its appearance is nevertheless very natural, as is the voice that announces each piece of information. The company does not give details on how it created these images.

The initiative involves about twenty Venezuelan media outlets and data verification organizations. Behind these two figures are said to be about a hundred journalists who report on the political situation and protests in Venezuela. Connectas ensures that all the information it offers is verified and it is not created by AI, except for the image it is transmitted with.

According to the Venezuelan journalists’ union SNTP, at least nine journalists have been arrested in recent weeks. The former head of the public channel VTV, Vladimir Villegas, denounced through the social network the channel “of all Venezuelans.”

This is not the first time that AI is used as a news presenter. Ukraine has also created an artificial news presenter for report on foreign policy affecting its war exiles. This artificial spokesperson was created from the image of a well-known Ukrainian artist who donated her image.