A local Hawaiian newspaper ventured into the world of AI-generated news presenters in an attempt to boost reader engagement. After a brief two-month trial, the experiment has been discontinued.
James and Rose, the AI anchors introduced by The Garden Island, a newspaper based on the island of Kauai, have officially been retired.
Staff turnover has long been a challenge for local newspapers, and The Garden Island is no exception. Reporters, often newcomers from the mainland, typically stay only a few years—or sometimes just a few months—before moving on. Now, James and Rose have joined the ranks of short-lived contributors, as their broadcasts have been canceled by the paper’s parent company, Oahu Publications Inc. (OPI).
The AI presenters were developed by Caledo, an Israeli company specializing in transforming articles into video content featuring AI hosts. This initiative marked the first such program in the U.S., and Caledo had initially planned to roll it out to hundreds of other local papers. Despite this ambition, the company confirmed the program’s discontinuation at The Garden Island but maintained that it still views the venture as a success.
Neither OPI nor Caledo provided detailed reasons for ending the project, though it appears a negative public reception may have played a significant role.
James, modeled as a middle-aged Asian man, and Rose, portrayed as a younger redhead, struggled to connect with viewers. Their broadcasts, posted twice a week on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, covered topics ranging from local festivals to solemn commemorations, but their robotic and emotionless delivery was unsettling.
In one awkward exchange, Rose inquired about the impact of a free pumpkin giveaway, prompting James to respond flatly, “The free pumpkins have brought joy to many.” Mispronunciations of Hawaiian names and inexplicable word substitutions—such as Rose calling “rifles” “referees” in their final broadcast—further alienated audiences.
Public reaction to the AI presenters was overwhelmingly negative, with harsh criticism from across the political spectrum. Comment sections were filled with disapproval, and even other local media outlets used the debacle as a cautionary tale. For instance, The Maui News called the development “scary,” while Honolulu’s Civil Beat used it as a rallying cry for supporting human journalism, describing the AI-driven future as a “dystopia.”
Though James and Rose did not replace human jobs directly, their presence raised concerns about misallocated resources. As a former reporter for The Garden Island, I know firsthand how stretched the paper was, with only two reporters covering an island of 73,000 residents during my tenure. The paper’s new owner, Carpenter Media Group, has consolidated over 100 local outlets across North America but has not significantly increased investment in traditional reporting.
Caledo claimed that ad revenue from the broadcasts would help offset costs, but the program failed to generate any ad sales. While each segment credited Longs Drugs, a local CVS subsidiary, as a sponsor, the company later clarified that it had not agreed to sponsor the AI videos and requested tighter oversight on logo use.
Despite minor improvements over the trial period—such as James finally blinking and toning down his odd hand movements—these tweaks came too late to salvage the program.
I can’t say I’ll miss James and Rose. While I wish them well in their “future endeavors,” I can’t help but feel that the resources spent on this experiment would have been better invested in real journalists, photographers, and editors. It’s a tough job market for us all—robots included.