When it comes to artificial intelligence, Melody Hildebrandt likes to get his hands dirty.
Fox's Chief Technology Officer is delving into AI models and seeing what is capable of, keeping his fingers on the pulse of what is happening with technology.
“You have to spin up this app and write the app from scratch, like you actually do, “This is incredible,” she told TheWrap. “There's no substitute for practical things.”
Tubi's Chief Marketing Officers, Hildebrandt and Nicole Parlapiano, participated in a roundtable called “AI in Hollywood: Recoding and Content and Creativity.” The discussion touched on many aspects of AI, from how to get employees to embrace technology to inevitable questions about moving jobs.
Comments from Hildebrandt and Parlapiano not only give a glimpse into how major media companies are adopting AI, but also show strategies that ensure that it is done in an effective and logical way. Even if some Hollywood view AI as a “foul language,” it is acknowledged that many people are embracing the technology and advances they bring.
To see the full panel, see here. Below are five of the most insightful things I've learned about using AI:
A bottom-up approach to AI
Too many C-Suite executives are mandating employees to use AI without giving proper guidance or even understanding what that means. While companies can understand that employees want to be satisfied with the rise of AI, blanket edicts are not effective.
Plus, at least 800 million people use Openai's ChatGpt every week, so you're probably thinking about something like this yourself.
But once it comes to work, a more effective approach is to figure out what problems you want to solve and, according to Parlapiano, decide what AI tools can provide the solution.
“Using AI and using all these tools just to use it is not a really good place to get started,” she said. “If you're thinking about business issues and gaps and thinking about how (AI) can help you overcome it, I think it's even more pretty.”
Hildenbrandt said Fox is providing employees with tools and increasing demand, asking central teams for advice on how to leverage or experiment with AI models they have heard from other companies.
Paradoxical views on work
The general belief/fear is that AI is coming for our work. Humanity CEO Dario Amodei said he believes AI will wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next 1-5 years.
That entry-level aspect is worrying, and AI could kill a pipeline of talent.
However, Hildenbrandt and Parapiano think that is not the case.
“We're part of entertainment. If our team doesn't have young people, there's no progressive business,” says Parlapiano. “When young people come in, they don't give us a perspective on what people want to see, what trends, what cool things, what talents they should be excited about.”
Hildenbrandt pointed out that one of the benefits of hiring younger employees is that some are already familiar with AI. She mentioned the engineer her team hired university and told her that the Gen AI coding tool made him 10 times more of his previous engineers.
“Bar was raised to a place where he expects more from entry-level talent,” she said. “You're not just earning a job that's grossly high with entry-level talent right now. We have high expectations that people hitting the ground can move to the next level.”
Parlapiano added: “They've lived this and I think they're adopting it much faster than their older cohort, as you can see with many Gen AI tools.”
Hildebrandt pointed out that intermediate managers may feel pressured, noting that entry-level employees have leveled up and higher-level managers have done more practical work.
As for general work, Parlapiano argued that despite high demand, the marketing department already runs lean and that AI can remove some of the time-consuming tasks rather than completely replacing people.
“I don't see my team or the people I work with and the fears,” she said. “We've all played carriage games. We're just trying to grasp it. How do you prioritize multiple goals?”
Embracing AI means reducing trade-offs and increasing team capabilities more effectively, she added.
Repackaging content
Hildenbrandt has been exposed to a more personalized experience with the newly launched Fox One streaming service. She said the video is built into an AI pipeline that repackages all company linear content into a vertical, short format video.
This system allows these shorts to take advantage of viral moments more quickly with touchdowns in games and games. Or they could just build on not just teams and players, but also conceptual ideas like an outline of the biggest comeback over the weekend, she said.
Another example is that if you come late to a show or game, AI can quickly assemble summary videos to speed up.
The next step was to use AI to identify key moments in the game that were less obvious than touchdowns and plays.
“It's not just how you commercialize existing content and bring the most relevant to consumers, but how do you actually cut, repackage and rebuild that content? She said, “It's an exciting new frontier.”
The World of Post Sea
We're quickly moving from search engine-driven experiences on the internet. Here, the answers are summarized by AI. Down the line, these queries will be handled by bots talking to other bots, and humans may be exposed even less to the search process.
“I think the top line principle is that the internet is increasingly aware that most of its traffic is not human, but bots,” Hildebrandt said. “So basically the internet is being rewritten now.”
Companies are already thinking about ways to stay relevant to that potential future.
“We've been focusing on very old school searches for a long time. It's a very efficient conversion factor, so we'll put it back where we actually have to go to the top of the funnel,” said Parapiano.
Not only did Hildenbrandt think about ways to optimize online content for bots rather than humans, but he added that media companies, creators and publishers need to fight to ensure that content is properly represented in the new search reality.
Reliability is important
In the age of AI, having a real voice makes even more difference.
“We hear it all the time, those words, people want a real connection,” said Parapiano. “They want to hear real stories.”
When so many tasks and ideas are being generated, she added that there is a need to trust where you get your news and content.
