AI is shrouded in misconception. People seem to struggle with the idea that the technology is just another tool, albeit a very powerful one. As with any new innovation, finding out exactly where it fits will be key to realising its full potential, and there is a range of opinions as to how it might be used. Now that AI is really starting to make waves, the media and entertainment (M&E) sector must ensure it is a benefit, rather than a hazard. How, for example, can AI help creatives produce content?
Maarten Verwaest is co-founder of Limecraft, a provider of AI-driven media asset management platforms that enable automation in production workflows. Considering the question, he says, “Much of the (often negative) narrative swirling around Generative AI (GenAI) has related to its potential to create content. I think that somewhat misses the point. The real power of AI lies in its ability to take on the heavy lifting that’s a characteristic of the industry by automating routine, laborious and labour-intensive tasks.
“We often use the ‘dishwasher’ analogy – think of AI as a labour-saving device that can take on the parts of the job you’d prefer not to do, freeing you up instead to focus on the more creative tasks. As one of the earliest media tech companies to integrate appropriate AI into mission critical production workflows, we’ve been working with it for over a decade, and we feel the industry is much more interested in this ‘co-pilot’ approach rather than asking AI to produce full TV scripts or bring actors back from the dead.”
Using the ingest process as an example, Verwaest describes how AI can be employed to automate laborious tasks as the backup and preparation of camera cards, which typically tie up edit assistants for many hours. Using AI, he explains, the process can be run overnight, without the need for human intervention, “hands-off and reliably, generating significant savings in edit suite capacity.”
Veritone has been delivering AI solutions for a decade and works with the M&E industry to provide content management, creation and distribution services aimed at streamlining processes and enabling innovation. Paul Cramer, managing director, media and broadcast, expands on the theme, “The demand for content has never been greater, which puts tremendous pressure on media and entertainment organisations to produce and distribute content at lightning speed, challenging traditional media management practices. Media teams, many already constrained by limited resources and budgets, face heightened pressure to do more with less. AI is already helping curate content archives, so creatives can find the content they want to use more quickly to assist in building sequences faster, while enabling better visual storytelling.”
Demand for personalisation is another growth area in which AI can help meet demand. AI models are able to create tailored, direct-to-consumer content experiences in which narrated video can be programmatically generated on demand, Cramer explains, adding, “These types of use cases are now possible when generative AI is paired with an archive of content that is indexed, curated and discoverable.”
Jason Williamson, MD and AI innovation leader of Deloitte’s media solutions and engineering practice, has a front row view of how AI is impacting the film, broadcast and sport streaming sectors. Echoing Verwaest’s comments, he also sees AI as complementary to the creative element, emphasising human /machine collaboration. “Creators and producers are experimenting with AI to increase their productivity,” he explains. “This can mean using AI tools to edit video, modify images, and localise content originally created by traditional processes, for example digital cinema cameras, photography, VFX, etc. As such, AI is being deployed as a creative co-pilot – enhancing media tools that once required more manual and time-consuming processes. Creators and their artistic vision are still firmly in the driver’s seat.”
Read the rest of this article to find out how AI is shaping the future of the M&E industry in the September issue of TVBEurope
