What’s On TV This Week: 15th April – 21st April
AI
AI: TV’s next frontier
Daily, we are bombarded by headlines announcing the wonders – and risks – that generative artificial intelligence is bringing to our lives. AI has been used to help identify the hostages taken by Hamas from southern Israel on 7 October. More mundanely, apparently it can also help stem the alarming rise in shoplifting. On the other hand, it could put many of us out of work, lead to rampant breaches of copyright and, ultimately, make it nigh on impossible to tell what on our screens is fake and what is real.
The impact of AI on film and TV - is it a friend or foe?
A funny thing happened on the stage of America’s Got Talent in 2022. Tom Graham brought gasps from the audience when, with the aid of a talented performer and a lot of deepfake technology, he brought a vision of Simon Cowell to life, apparently singing a ballad while swinging his arms around. Cowell looked equally bewildered and impressed, before asking: “Is it inappropriate to fall in love with a contestant?”
AI: Friend or Foe? | RTS Cambridge Convention 2023
AI has arrived but how does the broadcast industry work out what is game-changing and what is a threat to the creativity which defines us? How afraid should we be?
AI: The New Frontier for Journalism
An RTS session considering the innovations and potential challenges of AI in journalism. We heard from organisations that are already using AI to work more efficiently and deliver more of what their audiences want, and got an understanding of what regulators are doing around the world to ensure that the technology contributes to the industry positively.
Hosted by Symeon Brown, Channel 4 News correspondent and host of AI Watch.
Panel:
The case for and against AI in TV
Should the television industry be worried about artificial intelligence (AI) or excited? Or both?
Each day seems to bring fresh warnings that AI will wreck businesses, cast thousands out of work and even destroy the human race. So, is TV safe? Judge for yourself from this little experiment.
“Can you suggest a format for a new television gameshow?” I asked the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Machine Learning for Broadcasters
This talk, delivered by Tony Orme and the RTS Thames Valley Creative Technology Centre, provides an overview of machine learning specifically for broadcasters, it’s applications and why it works, and will answer the questions:
AI is the future: for good or ill
“It can be [anything] from a very simple and specific task being replicated in a simple algorithm to an intelligence system that can take complicated decisions,” explained the Digital TV Group’s Yvonne Thomas. “We see a big advantage to using AI and machine learning technologies in... search and discovery. Increasing the reach of content and making it discoverable is absolutely key [for the] monetisation of content.”
Rich Welsh, SVP for innovation at digital technology outfit Deluxe, who chaired the RTS event, said: “[AI] can be used, like any technology, for good or for bad.”
IBC ACCELERATOR PROGRAMME
The Programme has been created to drive sector-wide digital transformation, where Accelerators ultimately demonstrate business value through an open R&D approach, reflecting the value of industry of standards and best practices. Through the Accelerators, multicompany teams come together – led by game changing broadcasters, studios, platforms and content owners as ‘Champions’ - to develop solutions to use cases working with expert vendors and solutions providers as project ‘participants’.
Guest post: Transforming TV by going back to the future
Call it a tale of two industries. For the vast global television sector, this is the best of times and the worst of times. This is a golden age of television.
Cinema-quality programmes such as Game of Thrones draw massive audiences. Events such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup, broadcast in real time to a global viewership of 1.1 billion, prove the medium’s unique power to bring together truly massive live audiences.