Russian State TV Launches AI-Generated News Satire Show

Russia is widely recognized as a nation particularly enthusiastic about the art of political propaganda, both positive and negative. Promotional posters, radio programs, and books aimed at influencing public opinion about a foreign country or the internal situation within its own territory are not exactly foreign to Russian culture.

Recently, however, this passion has reached an exaggerated level with the creation and publication of a satirical television program, entirely generated by artificial intelligence. According to VK, one of the most widely used social networks in Russia, the show in question is called “Политукладчик” (or “PolitStacker”) and is regularly broadcast on a channel run by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

The program is designed by a neural network that selects the topics to be covered, usually related to the global political environment, and then uses AI to generate the video. The episodes last 40 minutes and are presented by Natasha, an AI avatar modeled on Russian journalist Nataliya Metlina.