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Stephen McCarty

Everything everywhere all at once. Or it soon will be.
If both the doom merchants and the evangelists are to be believed, artificial intelligence will soon be running every aspect of our lives. Cyberdyne Systems will finally rule the world.
Non-spoiler alert: AI is already making its startling, invisible presence felt in the realm of the moving, talking image: as we know, deepfakery can have seriously harmful effects on, for example, political truth (whatever that is).
And in the more frivolous entertain­ment world, AI is not only here to stay, but here to dictate what we watch, assuming Britain’s Royal Television Society has it right. In a recent edition of its magazine Television, the society quoted Tom Graham, CEO of AI content generation firm Metaphysic, as saying, “Ten years from now, probably 90 per cent or more of everything that every single person on Earth looks at on screen will be some form of AI-generated pixels.”

As cybernetic humanoids the Borg in Star Trek would say, “Resistance is futile,” so we might as well embrace AI and dig the new breed, it appears.
At a recent London conference for copywriters, ominously titled AI or Die, Landy Slattery, creative innovation director of Britain’s Channel 4, declared her readiness to embrace the brave new digital world, while concurrently (and later by email) striking a reassuring note for AI sceptics.
“Part of Channel 4’s public service broadcaster remit is to embrace the new, to be curious and innovative, so it is in our blood to lean into new things,” she says. “This shift is happening fast and because change is so polarising it will culturally separate those willing to embrace the new from those with their fingers in their ears.
“For humans, change is polarising. But if I see there’s something new or some change happening somewhere, I will run right into the centre of it, whereas a lot of people have gone, ‘Oh god, I’m just going to hold that off as long as possible, until I absolutely have to deal with it, because I don’t understand it. It seems quite scary, it’s going to take our jobs.’”
Which jobs? Screenwriter, director, camera operator?
“I think, currently, no AI program is going to replace your job entirely if you’re working in the creative industries – but someone using AI might replace you! AI is an assistant and the battleground for its adoption will be about the differences in human nature when faced with new things.”
For those who insist on putting their faith in old-fashioned flesh and blood, however, Slattery is reassuring.
“You’re still going to need the human,” she says. “When someone creates a painting, from the moment they start until they decide it’s finished, that creative energy and that decision-making of a human soul will always be the same, even using AI. You will decide what it’s going to be, when it’s finished, when it’s good enough.”
The real value of AI, then, at least for now, lies in relieving humans of much of the “grunt” work that goes into editing scenes, or setting up camera angles, for instance, allowing creative people to be, well, more creative.
“The Industrial Revolution has put people in nine-to-five jobs, doing menial things; but the diversity of thought that is going to come from being creative with all these tools is going to be incredible,” says Slattery. “As a creative person, I feel positive about machines taking over the menial tasks and making space for creativity.
“But it’s not just about AI, it’s about technology in general. We’re on the brink; we’re just breaking the atmosphere, like in space, going into a whole new world. It will include the brilliance of AI, but as content creators it’s the perfect time for us to put our arms around all this.”

If you’re wondering what a director of innovation does, various job descriptions mention “implementing new technologies to maintain a company’s competitive edge” and “promoting a culture of forward-thinking and creativity”. And for Slattery, her job’s roots could be said to lie with the South China Morning Post.
“I lived in Hong Kong from 1993 to 1996,” she says. “As well as starting my career in television [at Star TV] I also had a weekly illustration in Post Magazine. I had a BA from Central Saint Martins School of Art [London], specialising in illustration. When I arrived in Hong Kong I booked a meeting with the editor and asked him straight out for a gig. I think he was so humoured by my audacity he gave me something on the spot!”
And with hindsight, it is possible to join the dots from what’s happening today back to Slattery’s career at the Star TV of the mid-1990s.
“I was at the centre of the creative departments when non-linear editing came in – and it blew the editing and promo-making game out of the water,” she says. “When you have lived through these game-changing moments it gives you optimism, not fear. The future of content-making and its promotion is again on the brink of seismic change – and I’m here for it.”


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As the Borg in Star Trek would say, ‘resistance is futile,’ so we might as well embrace AI, says Channel 4’s innovation director Landy Slattery


‘I feel positive about machines taking over the menial tasks and making space for creativity,’ says the innovation director


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‘You’re still going to need the human’: Landy Slattery on why AI won’t replace creatives – but will spark creativity

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}As the Borg in Star Trek would say, ‘resistance is futile,’ so we might as well embrace AI, says Channel 4’s innovation director Landy Slattery

As the Borg in Star Trek would say, ‘resistance is futile,’ so we might as well embrace AI, says Channel 4’s innovation director Landy Slattery