Should AI Anchors Get Salaries Like Human Anchors?

AI Anchors are entering newsrooms with perfect timing, flawless delivery, and zero samosa cravings - but do they deserve a salary?

Prashant September 2, 2025

6 3 minutes read

From Appraisals to Diwali Bonuses, the Debate Over Paying AI Anchors Blurs the Line Between Newsroom Satire and Serious Questions

Table of Contents Hide

1 From Appraisals to Diwali Bonuses, the Debate Over Paying AI Anchors Blurs the Line Between Newsroom Satire and Serious Questions

1.1 The Justification for Pay

1.2 The Argument Against Salaries

1.3 Envision the Meeting for the Appraisal

1.4 The Unstated Expenses

1.5 The More Important Query

Should AI anchors get salaries like human anchors? At first, the idea sounds bizarre. After all, how do you pay a robot? Do you send it a paycheck? Deposit money into a bank account? Or just give it a lifetime supply of charging cables? But with AI technology becoming more lifelike and finding a spot on news desks, the question is no longer science fiction. It’s satire waiting to be written. Prashant reports.

The Justification for Pay

Consider this: AI anchors have certain indisputable advantages over their human counterparts. They never get the Monday blues, they don’t insist on coffee breaks and they most definitely don’t barge into HRs office every six months to demand a raise.

Unless your Wi-Fi goes out they are on time they never forget their lines and they don’t argue with the teleprompter operator. Consider a newsroom where all of the anchors arrive on time, read headlines in 17 different languages with perfect pronunciation and never gripe about their makeup. Doesn’t that sound like a boss’s dream?

The Argument Against Salaries

However, let’s examine the opposing viewpoint. The worst part is that AI anchors are unable to partake in office parties with complimentary samosas to avoid stage fright and gossip in the newsroom. And without chai breaks samosas and that one coworker who constantly gripes about the air conditioner being too cold what would a newsroom be?

Additionally there is no charm in watching an algorithm present the news without the peculiarities of a real person. Without a dramatic pause before revealing shocking breaking news no stifled laughter when a blooper occurs and no raised eyebrow during a scandal. Does that human touch really have a monetary value?

Envision the Meeting for the Appraisal

Imagine HR scheduling an evaluation with an AI anchor. What are your salary expectations for this year? asked HR. All I need is faster Wi-Fi and the occasional software update, said the AI anchor.

Just a courteous request for faster internet – no demands for bonuses or grievances about workload. Imagine how much less conflict there would be in corporate India if people worked like that!

And what about promotions? Does a software update make an AI anchor a Senior Anchor? Does it get a desk in the corner or just more memory?

The Unstated Expenses

AI anchors have hidden expenses even though they might not require a monthly salary. Data servers maintain electricity that runs around the clock and those unavoidable software bugs that appear just before prime time. Not to mention that when the anchor mispronounces Delhi as Deli due to a speech recognition error someone has to pay for it.

Therefore even though they might not require pay in dollars or rupees AI anchors aren’t exactly free either. Indeed their salary most likely resembles a huge electricity bill and an IT department putting in extra hours.

The More Important Query

Aside from the humor, the emergence of AI anchors does bring up a significant question: Will viewers always prefer the authenticity of a real person behind the news desk or will human jobs in journalism and broadcasting gradually disappear if machines can deliver the news without error fatigue or sleep?

Some contend that human anchors provide the emotional personality and relatability that viewers seek while AI anchors should continue to be tools – effectively dependable and unrelenting. Ultimately who would you prefer to hear say Breaking News! – a luminous virtual character or a familiar face you’ve seen throughout your childhood?

Thus should AI anchors be paid the same as human anchors? But yes newsrooms everywhere will be in serious trouble if they ever start requesting paid leave health insurance and Diwali bonuses.

Until then improving Wi-Fi, giving them faster processors and maybe even giving them a free samosa emoji at virtual office parties might be the most equitable way to pay them.

Which would you prefer: paying your friendly neighborhood AI anchor with a paycheck or simply plugging them in and using charging cables?

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