Safeguarding Tomorrow: The impact of AI in media & information industries

Safeguarding Tomorrow: The impact of AI in media & information industries

Join the British Library and The Guardian for an insightful event exploring the impact, opportunities and challenges of AI in media and information industries.

This summit, chaired by broadcaster and author Timandra Harkness, will bring together politicians, policy makers, industry leaders, artists and academics to shed light on key issues facing within the media, newspapers, broadcasting, library and publishing industries in the age of AI. Two panel discussions, focusing on the issues of creators’ rights and bias and misinformation, will precede a networking reception to develop the conversations and ideas generated.

See the agenda for confirmed speakers and below for further information about the event.

AI is here now, entering our lives rapidly through commercially led innovations and technologies that we use every day. AI is also increasingly the focus of government policy seeking to find the right balance between encouraging advances that AI can bring in helping us to tackle big societal issues from climate change to curing diseases, and dealing with any potential harms that AI could cause. This includes the issues of misinformation, bias, interference with democratic processes and socio-economic digital divide that are especially challenging for industries and institutions traditionally seen as providers of trusted information.

The recent Government’s response to Consultation on AI Regulation White Paper confirmed its commitment to agile, sector-based regulation, while also earmarking more that £100 million for the new responsible artificial intelligence research hubs and for strengthening UK regulatory environment. The response stopped short of introducing new legislation, but left an opening for future regulation should current mitigation become inadequate. This event will be an opportunity to discuss how this might play out in relation to AI challenges in media and information industries.

The rapid development of AI technologies has created a new landscape across media and information industries with unprecedented opportunities and challenges. Across the traditional industries dealing with information - such as newspapers, broadcasting, publishing and libraries - this means trying to rapidly develop capabilities to deploy AI technologies in a sustainable and ethical manner, often adjusting to the unpredictable and fast evolving technological advances. This change is unlocking a range of innovations, especially in the use of AI in content creation, distribution and consumption, while also creating the need to find the right approaches to protect creators’ rights and to ensure the flow of unbiased information to the public.