BBC to develop new services based on machine learning Posted on : Oct 19 - 2017

The BBC has teamed up with eight UK universities to develop machine learning tools that will be used to create a new generation of media content and help upskill its existing workforce.

The broadcaster's research & development department has entered a five-year research partnership with leading UK data scientists from the Universities of Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, Surrey, and Ulster, as well as Imperial College London, Queen Mary University, and University College London.

The aim is to create a body of research and first-of-a-kind AI-based prototype services that can be used in the digital media industry.

Matthew Postgate, the BBC's CTO, said in a statement: "The BBC has always been at its best when it combines creativity with technology. As we reinvent the BBC, we can see the opportunities that data and machine learning are opening up for us, our creative talent and our audiences."

By using algorithms and the BBC's own data, it is hoped that machine learning will provide greater insights into the needs of its audience, why they consume its content, and what impact its services have on them.

The project also aims to revamp the content creation process at the BBC, by developing new algorithms that will help inform those programme makers tasked with editing and commissioning television content.

A spokesperson for the BBC told IT Pro that detailed information on who, when and why people are watching content, their attitude towards it, and whether certain aspects of the content resonated with them, will all form part of the new machine learning algorithm, although it is too early to specify exactly how this will be implemented.

The spokesperson also added that a great deal of the development will be on behind the scenes services, and that it's again too early to say whether machine learning will make its way to customer-facing applications. View More