Many people of a sure age will bear in mind the Alan Partridge scene the place he’s pitching to a TV govt in a bid to get a brand new sequence commissioned.
Getting ever extra determined, the fictional British TV presenter suggests reveals similar to Inside Metropolis Sumo, Youth Hostelling With Chris Eubanks, and eventually, Monkey Tennis. All have been maybe unsurprisingly rejected.
Possibly Partridge, performed by comic and actor Steve Coogan, would have had higher luck if he had let a synthetic intelligence (AI) laptop system decide the concepts.
That will initially sound like a extremely fanciful thought, however plenty of TV manufacturing corporations have already introduced that they’re utilizing AI to assist them dream up new programmes.
These embody RTL Group, whose subsidiaries make the whole lot from The X Issue, to The Apprentice, Grand Designs and QI. It stated final yr that it had “started to support content creation with generative AI.”, external
In the meantime, Banijay, which makes Deal or No Deal and Conserving Up with the Kardashians, now has a fund to again AI-created content material. Asserting this last year,, external it stated: “Whereas human creativity will at all times prevail, it is vital to work alongside the instruments which can be found to contribute to the way forward for ground-breaking leisure.”
Whereas neither agency has but to unveil a brand new TV sequence whose thought got here from an AI system, I made a decision to place one to the take a look at.
So I logged into an AI chatbot, and typed in what I used to be in search of. I wrote: “I’m making an attempt to suppose up a brand new TV format. A sequence with contestants.
“Possibly they might be studying a brand new ability, like dancing, or maybe they’re making an attempt to compete in communities to have probably the most sustainable surroundings. Are you able to assist me with some concepts?”
The AI confirms that this may very well be an thrilling endeavour. And immediately comes up with six concepts.
I like its first suggestion – Abilities Mastery Showdown – the place contestants could be paired with expert mentors, and have a restricted time to grasp a particular new ability, similar to dancing, cooking or portray.