One Touch Intelligence’s new podcast series focuses on innovation in the video, broadband, and wireless industries, with some of the more video-centric conversations featured here in partnership with StreamTV Insider.
In the first episode of OTIcast, OTI SVP & Lead Analyst Michael Grebb interviews Bill Abbott, CEO of Great American Media, on a range of topics including massive disruption in the video and streaming business, how to work with talent in this new environment, and the importance of a strong brand, among other topics.
But of course, nothing has sparked more debate in the last couple years than the rise of artificial intelligence, which could empower content creators and studios – but has also sparked considerable trepidation among creators and executives alike.
Interestingly, Bill and Mike will continue their conversation on AI at the StreamTV Show on Friday, June 13, when Bill join’s Mike’s panel on “AI-Powered Content Teams: Revolutionizing Creativity and Workflow” at 11am MT.
Watch the full interview here and check out an edited Q&A transcript excerpt from the conversation, focused on AI, below.
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Q&A: A Conversation with Great American Media’s Bill Abbott
In this edited Q&A excerpt of our 20-minute conversation, Abbott shares his thoughts on why AI holds enormous promise but also requires a balance to protect that human touch that creates an emotional connection with audiences.
Michael Grebb
What’s your general view on AI?
Bill Abbott
We are being very careful with it because we still believe that personal insertion of a vision and creativity is critical to any content that's produced, so we're being very careful in terms of how we ultimately utilize it. Candidly, I struggle with this because it's making your content better in some ways. At the same time, though, if you take the heart out of it, and you become too formulaic or relying on the machine learning, you can go down a bad hole that is not going to produce good results. And so the human element is always going to be critical. It's how you utilize the tools to make yourself better.
And there are just so many resources out there now, and it hasn't been that long that AI has been [here]. I can't even imagine in three years what you know the capabilities will be on the production side and on the editorial side. But all that said, there's still nothing like something reviewed and written, ultimately by a content creator who really can finesse a scene or finesse a moment and create that moment in a way that's unique and special.
MG
And even if AI is not making entire movies on its own anytime soon, it's a bit of an assistant in the development phase. It can also do things like allow you to not have to shoot on location in certain contexts, because it could create some background videos, background actors, things like that. So do you think it's going to have a significant effect on the cost of programming - cut it by 50 percent, or as [Netflix co-CEO] Ted Sarandos recently said [along the lines of] Oh, we're not really looking at that as much as we're hoping it just improves the quality by 10 percent.
BA
Somewhere in the middle lies the truth there… It’s just too tempting to not utilize it to reduce your costs. At the same time, though, I do think it also makes you better. So it's a combination, but it's making yourself better and then stopping before it becomes something that is clearly not created for the audience by somebody who understands the audience and by somebody who is has experience and really the depth and understanding of what content creation is, which I don't think AI can ever get to.
MG
What are creators telling you about AI?
BA
They are very fearful of it, especially on the writing side, because there is just that ability to churn something out very quickly, that very much seems to make sense. Now, you know, in our minds, it lacks the emotion, lacks that heart. But at the same time, I'm sure there are a lot of producers and content creators who are utilizing it in a big way, and that's putting people out of work, and that's why the strike two years ago was so much centered around what that is ultimately going to mean to the business.
MG
I mean, there may be a lot of writers using it to give themselves ideas and not even telling you about it.
BA
There are people, although I will say this: if you look closely enough there, you can generally tell who is snowing you with AI, who is actually coming up with the idea. And it's like a moral dilemma. It's like if you turn something in that is has a lot of AI in it, it's not really you writing it, but you're utilizing the tool. But it just doesn't feel good. I'll tell you that much. When I if I can nail somebody on it and I'm like, “That doesn't feel good”…
MG
The Bill Abbott AI detector…
BA
Yeah. Your radar goes up. You see something written that way. You're like “they would never write that.”
MG
So it just doesn’t feel right.
BA
It really doesn't.
MG
Of course, AI can also be used for things like translation, for international distribution of content. I don't know how much you're doing of that, but certainly [using AI] to translate into other languages can save you a lot of money. It wouldn't have been economically feasible to do 100 different versions and different languages of a piece of content, right? And now that's becoming a little more possible.
BA
Incredible, you know? I mean, it opens up opportunities. But, like anything else that is so powerful, you want to cap the level of it before the genie gets out of the bottle and all of a sudden, who knows?
Michael Grebb is Senior Vice President and Lead Analyst for One Touch Intelligence, which provides market intelligence and industry analysis services for leading companies in the media and telecommunications space.
The OTIcast podcast is a complimentary service offering industry professionals insights and context around developments in the digital media sphere and may sometimes feature companies that are also One Touch Intelligence clients. If you are a media or telecommunications company with an innovation story that you’d like to share, please reach out to us at [email protected] The contents of OTIcast and excerpted Q&A do not necessarily represent the opinions of StreamTV Insider.