MediaCityUK will host a two-day workshop (27-28 November) to explore the many ways in which Artificial Intelligence is changing the media landscape. Open only to employees of EBU Members, the workshop will look at AI through several different lenses, with sessions on audience engagement, trust and ethics, newsroom tools, image processing and content production. A set of cutting-edge technology demonstrations will also be presented at the workshop.
Voices from media and academia
The opening keynote will come from Al Jazeera's Grant Franklin Totten, who is the network's Head of Cloud, Data Analytics & AI. He is passionate about empowering journalists to tell more compelling stories more efficiently through applying data science, AI and machine learning. He believes these emerging technologies can radically transform media workflows and provide intelligence across the media lifecycle in content creation, curation, media asset management, production, distribution and audience engagement.
Experts from Europe's public broadcasters also feature strongly in the programme, including event host BBC, NPO, Yle, France Télévisions, Rai and RTS. They will be joined by leading researchers from Imperial College London, University of Oxford and the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, along with representatives of France's National Audiovisual Institute (INA) and First Draft, a non-profit that addresses challenges relating to trust and truth in the digital age.
PSM challenges
The new co-chairs of the EBU Artificial Intelligence and Data Initiative (AIDI) are Bob van de Velde of NPO and Léonard Bouchet of RTS. In a joint keynote on the second day they will explore some of the specific challenges public service media face with regard to AI. Léonard Bouchet believes PSM organizations must work together in this area:
"Even if we're big in our own countries, we are too small as public service media to compete with Netflix, Amazon and all the big names, but if we come together, maybe we have a chance."
Bob van de Velde also believes that it's only by collaborating on applications and services that EBU Members will be able to compete effectively.
"Users on video-on-demand platforms expect a personalized, data-driven experience that we're not accustomed to giving them, because we're more focused on linear programming. This is hard, I think, when you want to translate the trust that you've built up over decades on your linear platforms to an online platform."
The workshop is a must-attend event for media strategists and technologists who seek an update on the latest developments regarding AI in media. The fact that the event is for EBU Members only will ensure that a trusted conversation can take place among public broadcasters. It's an ideal event for networking and peer-to-peer exchange.
> Register today for the AI in production and distribution workshop