FROM THE INDUSTRY
What is possible? What are you seeing this year? In Hall 14, you will see how AI is moving from the conceptual to the practical, from everything from live production automation, generative content tools and new uses, LED backdrops and virtual worlds, augmented reality, real-time VFX. Exhibitors include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Mo- Sys, 3Play, CaptionHub, Monks, Tata, Veritone and the Ultra HD Forum. Tell me about the accelerator programme. We’ve got nine accelerator projects tackling some of the industry’s toughest challenges, with unlikely consortia in some cases of people working together to solve those problems. There’s a future tech stage sponsored by Microsoft. There’s a two-day Hackfest done in conjunction with Google Cloud with an incredible attendee list; a roll call of the biggest names in the industry collaborating together. There’s a Google AI penalty challenge, like a football fan experience, using 15 different integrated technologies to showcase AI-driven decision making and sports performance. How are you celebrating 100 years of television? We have an exhibit that looks back and celebrates great things that have happened in the last 100 years and all the progress there has been but also offers a glimpse into what the next 100 years might bring. The fact that for YouTube, TV is the most watched screen means that actually the future of television is pretty bright. As is the future for the cinema industry. It’s far from the doom and gloom you hear about. The media love nothing more than to regularly remind you that cinema is about to die. The people at YouTube and Netflix are very positive about the future of the media industry. On average, the industry’s growing slowly but it is growing, which belies the fact that there’s stunning growth in some sectors of the industry. The box office for the first half of this year has been fantastic. I’ve been to the cinema twice this week alone. Other areas are doing a bit less well than they used to. You need to focus on the positives; IBC is very good
There is speculation about an emerging skills gap if AI takes away entry-level positions in media, and what happens to senior positions down the line when there is nobody there to fill them. What are your thoughts? I like to quote Amara’s Law. Roy Amara was a computer scientist, born the same year as John Logie Baird produced that first television transmission in 1925. He said that the impact of new technology is overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term. I have a glass-half-full approach to this. Tech businesses have always made the most of what’s possible, they look at the potential ahead; they aren’t legacy businesses. They are relentless about progress and doing the right thing for their customers. My view is if you do the right thing for your customers, everything else will flow from there. The impact of new technology is overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term. ‘Amara’s Law’
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SEPTEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.3
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