AI in the Media and Entertainment Industry

AI is already having a significant impact on the media industry. But what ethical questions should media companies be asking themselves as the role of AI continues to grow within their industry, and what does the future look like for the industry as a whole?

Streaming services have changed media forever not only because of the vast libraries of TV shows and media they contain but also because of the personalized recommendations they deliver to audiences enabling them to watch movies and shows they may have otherwise ignored.

AI has been the engine behind all these changes in the media sector, which means that media companies also had to navigate the large language model (LLM) vs generative AI debate over the last few years, while also struggling to find out how generative AI development services fit into their organization.

But the results speak for themselves, just look at the ever-growing popularity of Netflix and Amazon Prime, and to expand it out to other industries – just for a second – check out the examples of AI in banking.

But how is AI transforming content creation and distribution in media? What tools and technologies are commonly used for AI in media? What are the ethical considerations of using AI in this industry? What future trends are expected in AI integration within the media industry, and how can media companies get started with implementing AI technologies?

The growing trend of AI in media

AI in the media industry refers to the use of artificial intelligence technologies to enhance content creation, distribution and audience engagement. It automates routine tasks, personalizes content for viewers and provides data-driven insights to help media companies make strategic decisions. Some of the key areas AI is already helping media companies improve their operations in include:

• Content creation – AI significantly impacts audio and video production. AI-powered video editing tools are already helping automate tedious tasks like color correction, audio syncing and text animations. Image recognition is another area in which AI is having a significant impact on media. Finally, it is also used to create musical compositions.
• Content curation and personalization – With generative AI (GenAI), search now has the potential to become more of a conversation between media companies and audiences. For example, queries based on specific things audiences are looking for are now usually handled by chatbots and voice assistants that deliver human-like interactions to audiences, which enables users to get the information they want faster – and in a more natural way.
• AI, media analysis, and decision-making – AI can identify trends and patterns in audience behavior, helping teams make informed decisions about their content. Today, AI technology is already used in broadcasts to measure the performance of ads with a target audience.

Benefits of AI in media and entertainment

Of course, the influence of AI in the media sector is continuing to grow and shows no signs of stopping. But some of the benefits that AI can deliver to media companies by operating in the three key areas outlined above include:

• Personalization – By analyzing user data, generative AI systems can provide personalized suggestions for films, TV series and music, which, in turn, enhances content engagement and user retention for media companies.
• Marketing and promotion – By looking at user data and social media trends AI can create focused marketing and promotion plans. This enhances the marketing return on investment for entertainment firms by helping them select the correct audience for their products.
• Lower costs – By automating processes such as writing, narration, post-production and video editing, AI in media and entertainment will save media companies significant time and money in the years to come through lower labor and even utility costs due to a lack of need for writers, editors and even data centers.

However, despite these benefits many also have concerns about false AI-generated content generated by hallucinations in large language models like ChatGPT. Hallucinations cause these models to create believable falsehoods in their content and are a product of poor data being used in a LLM’s training. Additionally, the rise of deepfake videos and images has raised concerns about the spread of false information.

Therefore, it is important to remember that despite AI’s technological advances, the technology still requires some degree of human oversight. Whatever content is produced by any LLM still needs to be reviewed to ensure that proper industry standards and tone of voice are present. This is why having a human in the loop is still critical when working with GenAI – regardless of how far it has come in the last few years.

Applications of AI in media

So far, this article has discussed the roles and benefits of AI in media. But what does this mean in the real world? Here are two of the media and entertainment sector’s most common AI application cases:

Natural language processing (NLP) – enables media companies to produce and evaluate human language quickly, making it easier for them to produce subtitles for people who are hard of hearing. Additionally, this transcription of audio into text format is significantly improving listener engagement with podcasts – enabling hearing-impaired individuals or those that speak another language to listen to the podcast and understand what is going on, much more easily than ever before.

Speech recognition – a branch of NLP, this technology modifies mobile app interactions to provide customized experiences and hands-free operation to users. Voice recognition capabilities include effortless navigation, content scrolling, command initiation and voice command access to functionalities that provide for a seamless and relatable user experience. Voice search capabilities also streamline search operations, and voice-activated content creation and interactive storytelling to increase user creativity and engagement.

Of course, these are just two examples of how AI is being leveraged in the media sector but the capabilities both of these technologies provide to media companies can be seen in podcasting, video games, films and even book publication on platforms like YouTube, Netflix and Audible. Therefore, their impact in the industry goes much further than most people realize.

The future of artificial intelligence in media and entertainment

The future of AI in media can be summed up in one word – growth. This article has already outlined how AI is involved in content creation and curation and how this is helping decision-making at all levels for media companies. But it is important to remember that AI will only get smarter as time moves on, enabling it to handle more complex tasks in the media industry. Therefore, the role of AI in media will continue to expand, especially as it gets involved in more areas of the industry in years to come.

However, while this is good news for media companies, this potential must be tempered with caution, due to the potential of hallucinations in LLMs and the rise of deepfake technology. Therefore, ethical AI implementation is crucial, and collaboration between industry leaders, policymakers and AI experts will be instrumental in shaping a safer, more regulated and controlled future for AI in media moving forward.

Developing AI-based applications with Software Mind

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