21923 - SCTE Broadband Aug2023 COMPLETE v1 (1)

16 Vol. 45 No. 3 - September 2023 Issue Exhaustive, some might say borderline hysterical comment on AI, from tabloid hacks to CEOs has made any real assessment of what’s down the line for humanity little more than a guessing game, and as soon as it’s written it is out of date. Broadband Journal attempts to unravel the salient issues surrounding artificial intelligence and machine learning ith the help of a few industry experts. Artificial Intelligence History is a great teacher. Cast your mind back to the late 70s, when electric tin openers and Teasmades were status symbols, the Ford Capri an aspirational car to own, a time when Ipswich Town quite reasonably won the Cup Final. The launch of the SodaStream will have shaken the fizzy drinks industry to its foundations in 1978. Unbridled panic would have sizzled in boardrooms the world over, as the “Get busy with the fizzy” jingle on TV reminded viewers constantly how thirsty they were, and how easily they could address it. If people can make Coca Cola at home we are doomed, CEOs would have reasoned, visions of bottling plants closing and share prices in freefall swimming before them. A dark time. Fortunately for Coca Cola, branding is very powerful; it turned out consumers rather liked buying an ice-cold Coke from the shop, and the hassle factor involved in replacing gas canisters proved off-putting, not to mention sticky syrups gathering dust in kitchen cupboards. By 1985, perhaps still a tad jittery, Schweppes bought SodaStream anyway. Fast forward to 2023; the SodaStream is still with us, recently rebranded and relaunched, but likely still gathering dust in kitchens the world over. The whole experiment is now a bit of a nostalgic joke, and the fizzy drinks industry remains as effervescent as ever. What does this teach us? That perhaps it’s time to take a moment. Feverish speculation about the life-changing consequences of AI is probably worthy of examination against other, life-changing technological developments. Not that the SodaStream and AI are comparable innovations, but the panic is the same. Evidence of layoffs in the media is already visible, with outlets Buzzfeed News, Vox, Insider and Vice all making staff cuts; some for more complex reasons than the advent of AI, but certainly AI is likely to have been a factor, given the timing. However, Vice were having major problems before this occurred so it may be convenient to assume AI is a catch-all reason for such changes. It is ironic that the media, finding it irresistible to whip up an almighty storm about the launch of ChatGPT in recent weeks should be the among the first casualties, but this is overly simplistic. At least one would hope so, otherwise AI will be knocking this Long Read out by the November issue. scte long read By Melissa Cogavin, Managing Editor, SCTE and its implications