Embracing Artificial Intelligence and Data – Spotlight on The Future of Media – An Operational Perspective
What is AI and why is it important to embrace it as part of your business strategy?
At the centre of AI is the use of machines to drive automation, create efficiencies and streamline operational processes. From a simplistic perspective AI automates tasks and decisions that were previously done by humans and is a disruptive technology that is changing the way we live and work and disrupting industries and sectors globally.
The current media landscape is complex. High-level expectations of user interface and experience from consumers stands at the forefront of what is becoming a deep shift in the way media-centric organisations operate. This bares the question; how can organisations leverage this change to their advantage? The answer is by embracing and investing in Artificially Intelligent systems.
The common denominator of success amongst the key media outlets is investment in solutions to maximise data to achieve goals and successful developments.
There are various levels in which AI optimisation becomes highly impactful on business functions, particularly when observing the impacts of artificial intelligence in media across sports and broadcasting, and news and journalism. So, what is happening in these media spaces, and how can they maximise success in a competitive and technologically advanced landscape?
The Media Sector Before
Prior to the introduction of artificial intelligence, in media, the backbone of content creation and conceptual innovation lay in the hands of staff. This was an entirely human-centric approach that required factoring in human error and large required budgets amongst many other facets.
If AI was something being trialled in project applications, there was the need to have the knowledge about AI within your organisation already, or an impending need to hire an expert in the area.
Today, there are managed service providers who can readily deliver this AI component and eliminate the need for organisations to have these skills in-house.
Companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon, are just some of the major players involved. These companies supply the AI to external vendors who offer a simple pay-as-you-go model. A great example of this simple ‘add on’ structure is Microsoft Teams now offering a speech-to-text function for users. AI integration has never been easier to incorporate into project work.
As such, AI is more accessible, and more affordable. It’s shifted from being trialled, to being taken to the masses.
The Media Sector Now
One trend in the current landscape of artificial intelligence in media is around efficiency in content production and deployment.
This is seen very clearly in the sectors of sports and broadcasting, as well as news and journalism, where the benefits of artificial intelligence in media are significant.
Sports and Broadcasting
Broadcasts can now be produced in a drastically more effective and simple manner, benefiting both the business behind the broadcast as well as the viewer who is provided a broader selection of content.
Examples of artificial intelligence in media in this context includes insightful data being fed to sports commentators in real-time, and tailored sport highlight reels based on unique user behaviour and interests.
The cost efficiency of artificial intelligence in media proves itself in the example of traditional broadcasters now broadcasting lower-tier sports.
Whilst these sporting matches may not necessarily equate to the highest viewership statistics, it is now completely feasible to still broadcast these events due to the way in which human camera operators are no longer required for the project to go ahead. Multiple cameras are set up on location and utilise AI to track specific players and capture key parts of the game.
Without a single human camera operator in sight, an entire match can be broadcast to the network.
News and journalism
A great example of the application of artificial intelligence in the media is that of AI in the newsroom.
In the exception of breaking news (where AI is still able to be utilised by providing historical data and context to the journalist to write the content), AI can be used to write copy. In a matter of minutes, whole articles can be produced by intelligent software at the click of a button.
Further, phonetic searching and speech-to-text technology allows for entire archives of footage to be transcribed and made ‘searchable’ for specific keywords, images, or even emotions or colours. This allows newsrooms to dramatically save time, labour and costs by enabling staff to search for archived content in seconds as opposed to hours.
As for collecting information, some artificially intelligent software allows for instant submission of footage, which becomes particularly useful in breaking news situations. It’s clear that through integration of AI in news and journalism, information is becoming more readily available, “searchable”, accessible, and affordable.
AI offers organisations a highly impactful tool that enables project organisational growth in a user-focussed, data-driven direction.
AI and The Media Sector Into The Future
AI offers a plethora of opportunities, not only in the media sector, but more broadly across all business sectors and society as a whole.
It offers endless possibilities to transform and innovate current working practices and thinking. It affords organisations an opportunity to become more efficient, streamline and automate from an operational perspective.
But there are many other areas that AI can play a role including data and decisioning, personalisation and customer experience though utilisation of different technology applications.
From a media perspective, Artificial intelligence provides a method of growth planning and deployment based upon increased receptiveness and responsiveness to changes in the market.
Decisions can be made based on data, and a concise growth plan built based upon bias-free data, enabling the most effective plan to be deployed. Human insights have and will continue to provide value, but AI-sourced data offers a method that paves a clear path for future facing success.
It is the way in which AI predicts trends before they have even been expanded upon or extensively researched that makes the difference.
An impactful aspect of artificial intelligence is the ability to remove bias from decision-making and act with more agility.
AI systems provide valuable insights into user behaviour to a degree where there is less requirement on assumptions. Technological developments have allowed systems to become significantly more user-centric, offering a unique artificial intelligence-driven experience tailored to individual users and customers that is only set to continue to evolve, develop and catapult even further across all sectors in the coming years.
Angela Goodsir
Thinkly Founder and Director, Angela Goodsir is an enterprise wide executive with a proven track record in transformative industry and business change and has a vision to drive businesses successfully into the future.