German media companies are launching an initiative to test the foundations of a common data infrastructure.
Broadcasters ARD, ZDF, RTL Deutschland and ProSiebenSat.1 are working with the German Press Agency (dpa) to develop the technical and organisational foundations for the Media Data Space, a national media data infrastructure aiming to create a decentralised, AI-integrated data ecosystem.
The initiative is looking to enable organisations to independently enhance digitalisation programmes in the face of global competition.
Specific use cases from the media sector are being tested with an aim to strengthen the foundations on which the infrastructure can be developed. The project will look at authenticity, deepfake detection using shared AI models, harmonising data usage, content personalisation and the fine-tuning of AI language models.
Control of the data remains under the control of the respective participating partner at all times under the “compute to data” principle, with AI “travelling” to the data rather than the other way round.
After the test period is complete, a decision will be made as to whether a national permanent Media Data Space will be established, beginning in 2026.
Evaluation of the results will take place in Munich on October 16th.
