Ready or not, Artificial Intelligence has arrived

The potential of Artificial Intelligence to basically revolutionize and optimize processes in the media sector is practically unlimited. It is only a matter of time before AI becomes as ingrained as IP or digital solutions in the broadcast production workflow today.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for decades. From virtual assistants on our smartphones and automated transactions in financial services to applications in the defense space, AI is rapidly spreading across different sectors. The media industry is no exception. It is only a matter of time before AI becomes as ingrained as IP or digital solutions in the broadcast production workflow today.

However, although there seems to be a unanimous opinion regarding the potential of artificial intelligence and the certainty that it will be adopted in companies, an agreed definition of what AI consists of is still being debated.

On the one hand, there is the idea of ​​automation which, as its name indicates, consists of automating processes of a system without human intervention. At the same time, there is talk of machine learning, which could be considered an evolution of automation. This concept refers to those systems with the capacity to learn automatically and improve from experience without having to be specifically programmed to do so.

There is also data analysis, which refers to the process of examining large sets of data in order to discover patterns, market trends, correlations or any useful information hidden in plain sight. A final but also related application of AI would be predictive analysis, in which information is extracted from large data sets with the aim of detecting patterns and predicting future trends and results, as well as proposing recommendations.

The definitions cover many ideas regarding robotic processing. However, automation should not be confused with AI, just as AI should not be considered a way to “get rid of workers.” According to José Antonio Bolós, Sales Manager of Sony Europe, “AI is a fundamental pillar for a future in which deep learning is the protagonist and the information is used to achieve greater efficiency.”

The current landscape of AI

Currently, according to data from a recent IABM end-user survey, artificial intelligence is at the beginning of its adoption curve in the media industry. Only 8% of multimedia technology buyers said they had adopted it before September 2017. About 36% said they were not likely to adopt it, while 56% said they were likely to do so in the next 2-3 years. . Another survey has revealed that two-thirds of companies that have tried AI have introduced this technology into at least one critical function of their workflow.

AI is relentlessly making its way into media production workflows, where it is carrying out costly tasks such as subtitling, metadata tagging, and generating social media clips. For many, the primary motivation for adopting AI technology is the opportunity to automate routine workflows that are carried out manually.

Adoption may still be relatively slow; However, one thing is clear: AI technologies are here to stay. The question should not be whether we are going to use AI, but rather how we are going to integrate it into what we do today, from the beginning of production to the final delivery of the content.

Where the magic lies

Customer expectations are higher than ever. Furthermore, the demands on companies in the media sector to offer more complete and personalized services in a constantly changing market do not seem to diminish. Among them, it is worth highlighting personalized recommendations on what should be seen, the duration of the content or how it adapts to your needs.

One of these factors is the complexity of the network, which is reaching a point that humans cannot cope with it. The only way to develop the ability to deliver large-scale video, for example, is to put computing at the forefront—moving from simple broadcast networks and cached content to steadily putting intelligence at the forefront. .

Similarly, AI also plays a role in mitigating the enormous complexity of programming. It can take up to 18 months from the birth of a creative idea until a program is broadcast, during which time the environment in which the program is being broadcast may have changed dramatically. One way to ensure content stays relevant is to use artificial intelligence to help drive and use complex data analysis to drive better decisions going forward.

Keep up with streaming services

Competing against virtually unlimited budgets like those of Netflix or Amazon Prime is a challenge faced by anyone working in the content field. Chains must start leveraging their strengths, and legacy data is part of their arsenal. Huge amounts of data can be analyzed and used to predict popular shows, when is the best time to increase ratings, and many other factors that should be taken into account when creating a show and broadcasting it to the right audience at the right time.

Using metadata is the way to achieve a more complete environment for audiences. Companies should use them to progressively get a picture of data based on what people want rather than offering too much content to audiences to do calculations. It would be about describing what appears in the program and the important elements of it, that is, making the semantic metadata available to people, so that they can go to that element if they wish. The point is to progressively create a data landscape based on people's desires and use this to drive a more familiar viewing experience. Héctor Sierra, Sales Manager of Sony Europe, clarifies that “only through this perspective does AI become truly intelligent and offer real benefits to both companies and end users.”

The same goes for media companies. If AI can support the news production process by creating and distributing news more quickly, then it will become a real asset for these time-critical industries. This is possible through applications such as voice recognition, facial recognition or editing corrections.

The potential of AI to fundamentally revolutionize and optimize processes in the media sector is practically unlimited; Therefore, its value is indisputable. Investing in AI in its purest form means forgetting about concerns related to changes in jobs. Instead, it allows you to focus on the opportunities offered by having more experts in the field to develop and work with a computer system in order to obtain better information, necessary to create and broadcast the content that people want at the time they prefer. .

It is time to actively adopt AI technologies and stay ahead of events.

Stuart Almond

Marketing and communications manager Sony Europe

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