Channel 4 considers tapping into emergency credit facility; Backlash over fake AI writers & speakers; Amazon launches AI chatbot Q

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 30th Nov 2023 in News

In today’s ExchangeWire digest: Channel 4 considers tapping into emergency credit facility; Backlash over fake AI writers & speakers; Amazon launches AI chatbot Q…

Channel 4 considers tapping into emergency credit facility

Channel 4’s chief executive, Alex Mahon, has said that the broadcaster is considering tapping into its emergency £75m credit facility next year as a result of the TV industry’s worst advertising downturn in 15 years. The broadcaster set up this facility in 2018 as a financial backstop for exceptional circumstances. Mahon reports that they expect the traditional TV market to slump by 14% this year, calling the current climate “market shock territory”. In reaction to the state of the ad market, Channel 4 has slowed down spending on tech, projects, and content.

Backlash over fake AI writers & speakers

Sports Illustrated has come under fire for reportedly publishing articles created by fake AI generated authors. These authors who supposedly wrote for Sports Illustrated had no other publishing history, and their headshots were found on an AI generated image website. Articles written by these personas had also been reattributed to new ones without explanation. Following the accusation, the profiles have been removed.

Meanwhile, DevTernity – Latvia’s biggest developer conference – has been cancelled after the organiser was accused of creating fake speakers featured on the event’s website. The fake profiles were of female speakers exclusively, which led to accusations of a misguided attempt to diversify a male-dominated event panel. The profiles featured made-up names, titles, and headshots. Eduards Sizovs, the event organiser, later admitted to having “auto-generated” a woman’s profile after a speaker had dropped out, claiming it was just there as a placeholder.

Amazon launches AI chatbot Q

Amazon has unveiled Amazon Q, its new AI chatbot designed specifically for work, to meet enterprise customers’ needs. The chatbot can be tailored specifically to a customer’s business; its goal is to provide customers with fast, relevant answers to questions, generate content, and take actions informed by a customer’s information repositories, code, and enterprise systems. Its information and advice aims to streamline tasks, accelerate decision making, and spark innovation. Currently, Q is available to customers in preview with Amazon Connect.