91热爆

Just as our broadcasting and journalism services are built on a number of fundamental principles, based on our public mission, so the AI services that we build will have these same principles at their heart.

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Introduction
I’m very pleased to be here this evening, and delighted that so many of you have been able to join us in this wonderful theatre. Thank you all for coming.

Tonight I want to talk a little about the impact AI is going to have on public service, and the impact public service is going to have on AI. But first I should say a few words about my role at the 91热爆.

As Chief Technology and Product Officer, I lead a division that - as of last year - brings together all the technical expertise in broadcasting, digital products, and technology tools from across the 91热爆.

It’s my job to lead the technological transformation of the 91热爆 at a moment when - in the words of our Director-General, Tony Hall - our goal is to reinvent public service broadcasting for a new generation.

The AI revolution
For me, one key to meeting that goal is mastering the forces of the AI revolution - and by this I’m really talking today about machine learning and the use of data.

All of us know that these forces are likely to be of a speed and scale we have never encountered before.

Andrew Ng has described AI as "the new electricity", set to transform almost everything over the next several years.

We are already seeing industries disrupted all around us. And we know that the effect on public service institutions like the 91热爆 and NHS will be incredibly profound.

But today this change is being driven by the global tech giants of the US and China. And it’s fair to say that many of the regulatory, societal, and ethical questions are in danger of being left behind.

The critical challenge for us at the 91热爆 is therefore not just to master new technology in the interests of the people who use us, but also to help actually shape it in the interests of the whole of society.

A unique heritage
It perhaps won’t surprise you to hear that, as the 91热爆’s Chief Technology & Product Officer, I believe we are uniquely well-placed to achieve this.

And that’s because of our unique heritage.

First and foremost, the 91热爆 is and always has been an engineering organisation.

The second and third people ever employed by the 91热爆 were engineers. During World War Two we broke new ground by training 800 women as engineers - and today we have a total engineering workforce of around 3,000.

And it’s thanks to this that we have always been able to remain right at the forefront of innovation: from the birth of Radio and TV, to the first steps into the digital world with 91热爆 Micro and Ceefax, to the iPlayer and micro:bit.

But it is not just innovation that is in our DNA; it is also the ability to shape that innovation in the interests of society.

When the 91热爆 was founded at the dawn of broadcasting nearly 100 years ago, it was as the British Broadcasting Company - by the leading commercial technologists of the time.

Back then those great pioneers - including that very first 91热爆 engineer, Lord Reith - recognised the power of this new technology. They began to believe that a few fundamental ideals needed to be preserved in this emerging marketplace.

Information should be trustworthy. Audience interests should be represented. Programmes should not just amuse people but also enrich their lives.

These are the values they embedded by making public service a central part of the new market, transforming the 91热爆 from a company to a corporation - with a mission to inform, educate, and entertain.

Since then we have always been able to match that mission to changing times and changing technologies, and we’re confident that we will continue to do so in the future.

Not least because - as the tech giants are starting to realise - the development of AI services needs engineers to work closely alongside social and political scientists; economists and anthropologists; journalists, editors, and producers; artists, musicians, and creatives. 

Very few organisations can offer this under one roof. In fact, I believe that the breadth and depth in engineering, editorial, and creative expertise that we have at the 91热爆 makes us unique in this space.

All this means that we not only have the ability to help shape the AI future, but also a responsibility to our audiences, in line with our mission.

So how, in practice, is the 91热爆 going to help promote responsible AI?

Informing the debate
First, by informing the debate.

The 91热爆 reaches around 95 percent of the UK population every week, and as many as 370 million people across the globe.

We are by far the most trusted source of news in the country, and perhaps the most trusted worldwide.

As the national broadcaster with a global reach, our responsibility with any issue that is going to have such profound and far-reaching implications for society, both here and around the world, is to help make sure there is a truly informed debate.

And with AI, it’s a responsibility we’re taking very seriously.

Just in the last couple of weeks we have seen 91热爆 Two’s Horizon on the ethical and societal impact of driverless cars; Radio 4’s The Bottom Line on the effects of automation in sectors such as healthcare; The 91热爆 News Click programme on how AI is changing food and farm yields.

We have also had the World Service take on the legal status of robots; Talking Business tackle the economic challenges and opportunities of machine learning - and even Demis Hassabis, the CEO of DeepMind, choosing his Desert Island Discs.

Right across our output, we are committed to making sure that audiences are aware of how the AI revolution is affecting them, and what the wider implications for society will be.

Bringing partners together
Second, by bringing partners together.

As well as covering the AI debate, we want to play an active role.

That means using our unique convening power to help bring together tech leaders from public service institutions, academia, and the commercial sector around the biggest issues.

This evening is a good example… I want to thank Peter, Stephen and Lilian for being here, and to pay tribute to all the excellent work of their institutions…

I also want to welcome Ali from Babylon Health and Matt from Google, and the work of the AI Partnership.

Many of you know that this event is part of a wider season of talks organised by the 91热爆 Blue Room.

Each month we are inviting expert speakers, staff, and guests to explore different dimensions of machine learning - from how it will impact jobs, to how voice assistants like Alexa will affect our audiences.

I’m proud that events like tonight, and the talks we have planned for the rest of the Blue Room season, are bringing together a diverse community of like-minded individuals and organisations.

And I’m proud too of initiatives like the Data Science Research Partnership that we have recently established - where we are working alongside eight universities to help shape the future of research into data science for public good.

We’re keen to hear from all of you on how else we can work together, and what kind of contribution the 91热爆 can make.

Showing the way
Third, by showing one possible way forward as a practitioner.

You have already seen some examples from the Blue Room of the kind of impact of AI is having on what we do - from content analysis tools that will help us surface the best content to research around talking with machines.

We have a lot of work to do - but we’re clear that the 91热爆 needs to build its own applied AI capability alongside leveraging the innovation from the big tech companies and smaller specialists. We want to be leading practitioners in this space and maintain control of our own destiny.

In particular, by being pioneers of personalisation - using data to create 91热爆 services that are uniquely tailored to each of our users, and to exploit the full potential of machine learning to enrich their lives.

This is going to need us to make a fundamental shift from being a broadcaster that speaks to our audiences to being a service that is shaped by them and designed around their wants and needs.

To go from being one voice to millions, to millions of voices all tailored to one.

I believe that how successfully we do this will determine how successful we are overall in our goal of reinventing the 91热爆.

Public service principles
But just as our broadcasting and journalism services are built on a number of fundamental principles, based on our public mission, so the AI services that we build will have these same principles at their heart.

Not telling audiences “what customers like you bought”, but “what citizens like you might want or need to know” - in a way that is quite different to what our commercial rivals or government might provide.

This goes back to the idea of what a former Director-General of the 91热爆, Mark Thompson, called the “public space” - the area between the market and the state.

It’s where the 91热爆 lives. And from here we have the opportunity, not just to build world-class services that put the needs of our audiences first, but also to show society what the best, responsible AI looks like, and help directly shape the AI market for the public good.

So I want to finish by highlighting the public service principles that will guide the 91热爆 as we reinvent our services in the years ahead.

But that might also help guide all of us as we search for the very best framework for protecting the public interest in the AI world.

Firstly, independence.

As computers increasingly act without human intervention, it will be increasingly vital that people can find information and recommendations they can trust and that they can be sure are free from commercial or political agenda.

At the 91热爆, this is at the core of everything we do. But more widely society will need to think very carefully about what is needed to safeguard independent space in the new AI landscape.

Secondly, impartiality.

We know that the AI world will only be as good as the quality of data it uses and the way that data is handled.

Any bias in the system - either explicit or implicit - will inevitably be reflected in the machines’ decision making.

The 91热爆’s editorial guidelines are a tested framework for handling complicated considerations such as bias in journalism, and we will need similar guidelines for our AI services.

Thirdly, accountability.

With decision-making buried deep within the AI process, it is even more important to ensure that providers of AI services remain accountable to their users in a meaningful way.

Transparency is a vital part of this, and the General Data Protection Regulation that will come into force next year will play an important role. I’m sure Lilian will touch on this later.

But at the 91热爆 we know we will need to work very hard to make sure that those who hold us to account - inside and outside the 91热爆, including our audiences - can truly interrogate our AI services, in the same way that our editorial processes allow for our journalism.

Finally, universality.

Intelligent machines offer huge possibilities for society, but only if they are developed for the whole of society; if they represent the wants and needs of everyone, and don’t leave anyone behind.

For this we have to make sure that full diversity is built into their development.

That means involving the whole cross-section of society in every aspect, from data science and engineering to business and the social sciences.

Universality is something the 91热爆 takes very seriously as part of our responsibility to reach and reflect all of our audiences - especially as different audiences use us in increasingly different ways.

But. more widely. we must recognise that a responsible AI revolution must be designed by the whole of society, for the whole of society.

Conclusion
For the 91热爆, the challenge is clear: we need to use AI to shape world-class public service, and we need to use world-class public service to shape AI.

To do this we will draw on all our heritage and proud history of innovation. And we will do all we can to work with partners to achieve far more together than any of us could alone.

As we approach our second century, the 91热爆 wants to be every bit as successful in helping to enshrine public service values at the heart of technological progress as we were in our first, and to make just as significant a contribution to society in the 100 years to come.

Ends.