AI

More than meets the AI: IBC 2024 round-up

The queue to enter this year's IBC

Is your IP up to scratch? Can your 5g handle OB? Where do you stand on SMPTE 2110? We may never know the answers because host Nadine Dereza banned jargon and acronyms at an IBC Review event in London last month.

The event, run by RTS London and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), is held annually to condense the vast flow of information from 45,000 attendees (2,000 up on last year) at September’s International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam into takeaways for the UK market.

IBC 2024 explores AI and disinformation, TV recruitment and the RTS Mini MBA

The 2024 Olympic torch ceremony visits a coastal town

More than 45,000 visitors from 170 countries joined 1,350 exhibitors in Amsterdam last month for the 2024 International Broadcasting Convention.

Many of those attending wanted to find out more about how the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), can help solve the challenges faced by the media and entertainment industry.

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?

On screen, Alex Mahon’s image from the camera trained at the podium is being manipulated by Metaphysic’s AI technology to alter her appearance and voice in real time

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: 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.

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.”