Media vs. Generative AI: an expert deep dive
AI is a chance to reverse the last 20 years of media companies' decline and bring the focus back on content, unique value propositions, and audiences. And with audiences, advertisers.
I am excited by the opportunity: that’s why I wrote a very upbeat issue of this newsletter a couple of months ago about the partnerships of many media companies with OpenAI. But I felt I had to dig deeper.
That’s when I turned to Richard Benjamins, a former colleague of mine at Telefónica and a constant reference for me on AI, data, and responsible business.
In a new episode of the “Not Just ADZ” video podcast, we discuss the impact of generative AI on content creation and the opportunities it opens, the partnerships between AI platforms and media brands, the issue of unlawful scraping, fighting fake news with AI and collaboration, and the relationship between people/employees and AI.
I heard from Richard that the impact of quality media companies’ content on training generative AI models is negligible and that they should not be worried about “giving it away” but rather making sure they limit it to clear use cases (while being paid for it).
A key message coming out of the conversation is also that media owners should focus their energy on learning and experimenting with the technology.
Another interesting part of our chat was about using AI to detect misinformation and disinformation, and the fact that the main obstacle might be the willingness, or lack of, to seriously tackle it, because of its impact on social media companies’ revenues.
Richard is an international AI expert, former Chief AI and Data Strategist at Telefónica, where he also covered the roles of Chief Responsible AI and was the founder of its “AI for Society and Environment” area. He is also a former AXA’s Chief Group Data Officer.
Today he is the CEO and co-founder of the Spanish observatory for ethical and social impact of AI (OdiseIA). He is also chairman of EIT Digital's Supervisory Board and a trustee of the environmental non-profit CDP Europe, co-founder and former co-chair of UNESCO's business council for their ethical AI recommendation. He is in the advisory board of the Centre for Digital Culture at the Vatican, of WEF’s expert group on Resilient AI, Governance and Regulation, and of MIT-Sloan's panel on Responsible AI, and is an external AI expert for the AI Observatory of the European Parliament.
