ROXi Brings the First AI Presenters to Music TV in US

Photo Credit: ROXi

AI-generated TV presenters will host ROXi’s music TV channel, launching today in markets in the US, UK, and Ireland.

FastStream Interactive has announced the introduction of the first AI-generated virtual TV presenters to host a TV music channel on its free interactive TV music channel, ROXi. The new virtual hosts will introduce music videos on ROXi, initially on US broadcast TV and on Sky in the UK and Ireland.

ROXi’s AI-generated TV presenters will host ROXi’s curated music programming, introducing musicians and songs with jokes, fun facts, and trivia relating to the artist, song, and music in a unique TV show format.

“ROXi’s innovative new virtual TV presenters bring a new level of entertainment to interactive TV, delivering far more engaging viewer experiences than would be possible if we were using normal TV production facilities and actors,” said Rob Lewis, CEO of FastStream Interactive. “With AI we can have ROXi presenters introducing Beyoncé from a yacht moored off her favorite Caribbean island without having to hire and fly in a production team or charter the yacht.”

Lewis also addressed the elephant in the room: using AI in place of human talent. Yet the company’s stance on AI seems more in favor of ensuring that no AI-generated music is used on their platform that consists of unlicensed material than ensuring that real human actors and presenters have jobs in the future of television programming.

“We understand why some actors and presenters are worried about AI. We believe this technology has the power to transform TV entertainment, making it far more interactive, contextually relevant, and entertaining, especially for younger consumers. Ultimately, we need to embrace AI-generated talent and interactive TV experiences if we’re to attract younger viewers on TV.”

“That said, ROXi automatically excludes all unlicensed AI-generated music from its catalog,” Lewis stressed. “AI start-ups need to ensure the songwriters, artists, and rights holders of all the music used to train their AI services have been properly licensed and renumerated before we’d ever reconsider our position.”

Nevertheless, it’ll be interesting to see how ROXi and television programming like it continue to evolve alongside AI.

ROXi is a free-to-air, CTV ad-funded, interactive music video streaming and broadcast service for TV. ROXi promises to deliver “easy, frictionless, and free access to music videos on-demand,” enabling users to skip through videos “TikTok-style,” using their TV remote. They can also search ROXi’s library of 100 million music videos from major labels like Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and the Merlin Network.