AI and Broadcasting: BBC Commits to Transforming Education
The BBC seeks to use the power of AI to revolutionise the education sector.
As reported in The Guardian, the UK-headquartered broadcasting company is planning to roll out a multi-million-pound investment to transform its educational offerings. It hopes to further attract the interest of young people, who will then go on to be future customers with a BBC license.
£6m (US$7.47m) will be spent on BBC Bitesize, the organisation’s free online study support resource for schoolchildren in the UK.
“It’s a significant investment in BBC Bitesize to turn it from a really brilliant, trusted digital textbook, to a much more personalised learning platform,” comments Helen Foulkes, Head of Education at the BBC. “We’re taking our education service and making it fit for the digital age, so the learning adapts to the user.”
The Power of AI: Facilitating greater enterprise engagement
AI is increasing in popularity within the education sector, with Capgemini citing in 2023 that 60% of teachers now believe that AI is necessary for pupils. In addition to believing that interacting with AI systems will become a required job skill, 82% believed that digital skills education for national and state curriculums should be compulsory.
With this in mind, it is becoming more necessary for businesses to offer greater education and training initiatives in AI to support young people and those within the world of work.
The BBC is no different, with the organisation having acknowledged that it was cautious of being left behind in the AI digital transformation race. It seeks to remain competitive in the global broadcasting landscape by leveraging the technology to make better use of its educational database.
Currently, it is developing new tools that are likely to provide personalised testing and identify learning gaps for students. According to The Guardian, users are also likely to be able to find suggestions for follow-on content - with the goal of deepening personal understanding of a particular subject.
The company, whose education resources saw a much larger take-up during the COVID-19 pandemic, seeks to continue momentum with this success and harness its 100 years of education to technologically advance even further.
Within broadcasting more generally, AI is often used for efficient content distribution and optimisation of scheduling based on data analysis, audience preferences and market trends.
Keeping the customer (digitally) engaged
Increasing numbers of businesses around the world are looking to harness new technologies like AI to attract and retain people's interest and engagement.
Already, a wide range of companies are looking to harness AI to improve education and customer experience strategies, including the likes of Microsoft, Amazon, Google and recently Extreme Networks with its latest advancements in AI.
Keeping customers engaged is also wrapped up in their trust of an organisation’s offerings and if their personal data is safe. It is for this reason that countless businesses have joined initiatives such as the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot programme in the United States.
Programmes like this are designed to democratise safe access to AI and provide researchers with access to critical data and compute. The NAIRR Classroom area aims to reach new communities through education, training, user support and outreach.
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