AI News and Cultural Storytelling : A Q Methodological Study on International Audience Perceptions of AI English News Anchors

This study explores how international audiences perceive AI-generated English-speaking news anchors deployed to promote Chinese local culture. Framed within the Human-Machine Communication (HMC) paradigm and enriched by ritual communication theory, the research assesses the role of AI anchors in cultural mediation. Using Q methodology with a diverse sample of 20 participants, the analysis revealed three distinct attitudinal clusters: AI skeptics, collaboration realists, and cost-effectiveness prioritizers. While participants acknowledged AI’s technical advantages - such as consistent pronunciation and precise articulation - they expressed hesitation about forming emotional or parasocial bonds with these synthetic presenters. Notably, concerns emerged about AI’s ability to sustain the symbolic and affective rituals essential to meaningful cross-cultural communication. Collaboration realists advocated for hybrid human–AI approaches, whereas cost-effectiveness prioritizers emphasized AI’s operational efficiencies. Collectively, the findings highlight that deploying AI in cross-cultural settings involves more than technological capability - it actively reconfigures the nature of communicative agency.