• What are the key challenges artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven technologies pose for public service media (PSM)?

• How might we design collaborative and timely research that critically responds to these challenges?

These were the questions driving a recent series of workshops hosted by Dr Bronwyn Jones with colleagues Dr Ewa Luger and Dr Peter Bell. Bringing practitioners from industry together with scholars from across disciplines, the project explored the big debates in relation to: Law & Regulation / Journalism / Values & Ethics / NLP & Voice / (In)equality & Sustainability / Work & Labour.

Image: Alina Constantin / Better Images of AI / Handmade A.I / CC-BY 4.0

Data-driven technologies, including an array of systems described as ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI), are disrupting the global information environment and posing new and urgent challenges for news and media providers.

Public service media (PSM) - a vital information and communication infrastructure in many nations - are having to grapple with their role in this digitally-networked and algorithmically-curated world, while facing a challenging climate of resource constraints, hostility/co-optation by governments, and crises of legitimacy.

For example, the BBC in the UK has a mandate to innovate technologically in the public interest and is exploring how to apply machine learning for personalisation, algorithmic recommender systems, and automated content production - but has to ensure it does so in ethical, responsible, and value-aligned way.

Image: Alan Warburton / © BBC / Better Images of AI / Social Media / CC-BY 4.0

Two stand-out themes the discussions indicated were a pressing need to:

• Re-evaluate what the underpinning principles and values embedded in PSM institutions mean in today’s digital environment & how they can be translated into socio-technical systems that function in the public interest
• Better incorporate the users of technology (e.g. citizens or practitioners) into design and development processes, including through methods of co-production

You can discover more of insights on the project blog and find details of future work Bronwyn has planned with partners BBC R&D here as as part of a soon-to-be-launched new programme of research.