BBC Pilots GenAI Tools for Writing Headlines, Content Labeling, Personalization

Global news publishing giant BBC is testing the integration of AI in headline creation as part of broader trials aimed at enhancing reporter efficiency.

New GenAI-driven features

The broadcaster is exploring generative AI tools, including a "headline helper" to provide journalists with a selection of potential headlines to choose from. 

The too may also enable summarization of articles for external linking. The use of AI extends to translation tools converting news articles into various languages and text-to-speech technology for transforming sports commentary into text for live blogs. Additionally, the BBC is experimenting with chatbots to offer tailored educational tools on its Bitesize service.

The organization disclosed these developments in an AI strategy update, emphasizing that the majority of AI pilots are for internal purposes only, with no plans to use the technology for audience-facing content until more is understood about its capabilities. The BBC acknowledges the potential of AI but is cautious about its implementation due to concerns about copyright breaches.

The publisher had announced October last year that it would initiate multiple pilots to explore the use of generative AI. It currently has 12 pilots in total the following themes: 

1. Maximizing value of existing content

• Translating content to make it available to a wider audience

• Reformatting existing content to widen its appeal

2. New Audience experiences

• A BBC Assistant – exploring chatbots to provide interactive and tailored learning on BBC Bitesize

• More personalized marketing

3. Improving efficiency

• Supporting journalists – equip journalists with GenAI tools to help them work more quickly. For example, a ‘headline helper’ that provides multiple headline options, or summarizes an article.

• Streamlining the organization and labeling of content – to help teams find content within programs through things like better labeling – which will help create new forms of content more quickly.

Previously..

This update comes amid the lawsuit struggle between The New York Times and OpenAI and Microsoft for alleged copyright abuses.

To safeguard against AI threats, the BBC, along with other publishers like The Guardian, New York Times, and CNN, has restricted companies, such as OpenAI, from scraping its website for training AI models.

Discussions between news publishers and tech companies are ongoing for potential licensing deals where AI creators would compensate for using their content.

In response to these challenges, the BBC has established guiding principles to ensure responsible AI use, aligning with its public mission. The updated editorial guidance emphasizes the need for active human oversight to prevent undermining audience trust. 

Despite the ongoing exploration of AI applications, the BBC remains cautious and committed to ethical considerations in adopting these technologies.