BBC's Kate Phillips On AI, YouTube & 'Blue Planet III'

The BBC will never lie to viewers about its use of artificial intelligence, content boss Kate Phillips said today.

Phillips noted that “AI is part of TV production now” as a “research and edit tool” but said the corporation will never use AI on huge shows like Blue Planet III in terms of what you see on screen. She was speaking as the MIPCOM audience was shown a trailer of Blue Planet III.

“We would never use AI on something that because you are lying to the audience and we can never do that,” Phillips said in Cannes.

Her comments came a fortnight after her boss, DG Matt Brittin, said he had been sent an AI-generated episode of Doctor Who, which he called “pretty good.” This has got some people’s backs up at the BBC, who fear for AI’s impact on jobs and creativity.

“Literally a creative carcass”

Phillips delivered an emotional statement today about how the BBC will continue commissioning shows the way it always has, rather than relying on algorithms.

Her comments came as the BBC works more closely with YouTube including launching numerous channels and a day after YouTube Europe boss Pedro Pina said the platform is “not invested in producing content.”

“Someone asked me recently about algorithms and whether I’d commission based on algorithms and I’d like to say very clearly, ‘Absolutely not’,” said Phillips. “Just because the distribution mechanism is changing it doesn’t mean that our creative goals have changed. People want great content. YouTube is not a commissioner, it’s a platform. If you commission based on algorithms you are literally a creative carcass.”