The Uzbekistan National News Agency, UzA, introduced a virtual news anchor based on artificial intelligence named Sobira Kholdorova.
She will read out the latest news in nine languages — Uzbek, English, Russian, French, Arabic, Chinese, German, Spanish and Kazakh.
The prototype of journalist Dildora Abdukhalilova was used to create the AI-generated anchor. The project was developed by We Digital Agency.
“The reporter is named Sobira Kholdorova because she was the first professional female journalist in Central Asia and Uzbekistan,” the agency said.
Sobira Kholdorova was born in 1907 in Chust, Namangan region, to a poor family. She came to Tashkent in 1923 and studied at the women’s institute for two years. Later, she studied at the Higher institute of journalism in Moscow.
She worked for several newspapers and magazines after returning to Tashkent. She was imprisoned in 1937 on charges of “losing her class consciousness and connection with the intellectual revolutionary movement”. She was exiled to Yakutia, Russia for 10 years on 5 December 1940. Sobira Kholdorova’s husband Mumin Usmanov was shot on 4 October 1938. After she was sentenced and exiled, her children Pulat and Manzura were sent to an orphanage.
She returned from prison in 1955, and passed away in 1984. Her son Polat Usmanov returned from the Second World War with injuries. Her daughter Manzura Usmanova was a doctor of physics and mathematics.
“The purpose of naming the AI-generated anchor Sobira Kholdorova is to restore the bright memory of the first Uzbek female journalist who was a victim of repression,” UzA noted.
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