When it comes to deploying daunting new technologies like AI, leaders in media, sports and entertainment shouldn’t be afraid to do hard things.
That was a key takeaway from the Variety “Strictly Business” Podcast Live presented by AWS & Deloitte, held this week at Cannes Lions (under a blazing-hot sun!). The special recording of “Strictly Business” was joined by Deloitte’s Michelle McGuire, principal, chief data and AI officer, Olympic and Paralympic partnerships; Ruba Borno, VP, AWS Specialists, Partners and AWS Marketplace; and Pete Wood, executive VP of consumer platforms and services at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
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“I would say don’t be scared of AI and the technology, right?” said McGuire. “Start to upskill your folks so they engage with it, they understand it, they’re getting their hands dirty and using it.” Her advice is for companies to “start tackling hard problems” — so they can not only see the benefits of optimizing existing processes, but start to apply AI to do things that weren’t possible before.
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Borno made this point: “If you tackle a difficult problem versus [using AI to go after] low-hanging fruit, it solves your figuring out your data foundation.” She said that once an organization has the underlying infrastructure like security and governance in place, and its leaders have figured out their change management processes, “then the rest becomes a lot easier.”
And whereas the shift to cloud services was a “very much bottoms-up transition,” implementing AI across an organization requires a “top-down push” because the biggest wins come from rethinking workflows on an end-to-end basis.
Sony Pictures’ Wood framed the AI discussion in the context of Hollywood’s transition from DVDs to streaming distribution. “The internet enabled us to actually find better ways to engage consumers,” he said. “AI is just another way of enabling better workflows and efficiencies through the process. What it absolutely does not do: It doesn’t replace what the creators are doing, which is creating amazing, compelling content around our brand’s IP and our franchises. And so we’re really clear about how it’s used and when it’s used and we are a human-led company.”
According to McGuire, based on Deloitte’s research about how AI is impacting enterprises, “what we’ve arrived at is AI is not going to the replace the humans. It has to be machines and humans working together in harmony to really deliver impact.” The promise is to be able to engage sports and entertainment fans “in a way that historically wasn’t possible because the technology wasn’t there.”
The potential upside in using AI across an enterprise is tremendous, McGuire said. For example, currently only 14% of companies have a unified profile of their customers. “Think about the possibility there that companies can unlock in targeting their customer,” she said. “And by the way, consumers want things that are relevant to them.” Deloitte research shows that 82% of consumers prefer personalized experiences, whether that’s advertising or video content.
A specific area of opportunity for Sony Pictures is letting viewers find something they want to watch a lot faster, Wood said. The average consumer spends 10-12 minutes every night trying to decide what to watch. And “the scary statistic is actually one in five consumers actually gives up,” he said.
AWS’s Borno offered a sports analogy for AI innovation. When wooden tennis rackets were replaced by titanium models and when steel poles were replaced with fiberglass ones in pole vaulting, the level of performance in each of those sports soared to new levels.
“You don’t sit there and say that the tennis racket is now the tennis player. You don’t say the pole vault is the pole vaulter,” she said. “It’s not replacing the human. It superpowered the human who was using it and then they were able to compete. And then the interesting thing is, if you’re not using those new tools, you really actually can’t compete anymore… It sets a new standard.”
The event took place on IRCODE’s yacht (as one does in Cannes) docked near the Palais convention center.
“Strictly Business” is Variety’s weekly podcast featuring conversations with industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. (Please click here to subscribe to our free newsletter.) New episodes can be downloaded or streamed at Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud and more.
Pictured top (l. to r.): Deloitte’s Michelle McGuire; Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Pete Wood; AWS’s Ruba Borno
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