PD Talk | AI accelerates media transformation and advance
People's Daily app
1541814768000

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the media industry and the way it operates. In this episode of PD Talk, we are delighted to be joined by four technical and media experts,discussing AI and media transformation.

This special edition of PD Talk was shot at the BFA International Convention Center, where the 2018 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road was held.

"AI is a tool that can improve the efficiency of content distribution and creation," said Zheng Wen, vice president of AI technology at Kuaishou, an application of short videos. Zheng said that AI is designed and controlled by humans and should not be considered as a blackbox. The algorithm provided by AI can help with content recommendation by personalizing user's preference.

Chen Yuqiang, co-founder and chief scientist of 4Paradigm, said that AI boomed in 2010 and started to change the news industry. Mobile is an important vehicle of AI that changes reading habits. “What makes a difference in the media is the way that information comes to people”, Chen added. "AI is the only way to help generate fragmented time to users." He thinks that training a machine is no different from training a dog.

According to Guy Zitter, senior adviser and former managing director of the British newspaper Daily Mail, the difference between what's happening now and five years ago is the speed. Speed is crucial because "if you are first with the news, that is an enormous advantage". "AI enables the news desk to sift through vast amounts of information and identify the stories faster than any human being possibly can," said Zitter. He mentioned that information capacity is also a big change.

"For me the biggest problem is the acceptance of AI in the newsroom," said Fabian Frydman, Deputy Editor General of French newspaper La Provence. "We still have time when it comes to journalism that journalists cannot replace AI while AI also cannot replace journalists." He also thinks that professionals will be able to concentrate on profound subjects by giving AI basic areas that are based on data. But he said that the real added value of people will remain in journalism.

(Produced by Liang Peiyu, Zhao Dantong and Han Xiaomeng; subtitles by Chi Jingyi)

(Wang Kun also contributed to the subtitles)