Today's AI advances are shaping the future

The individual building blocks of artificial intelligence are powerful in their own right – but the new combinations of AI are truly ground-breaking and improving fast. 

For years organisations have been taking advantage of analytical AI to understand data, streamline processes and keep technology secure. But it’s the dawn of leading-edge generative AI techniques that have caught the world’s attention. 

And now with multimodal AI the building blocks of text, images, video, audio and data can be knitted together to truly solve real world problems. 

At PA Media we’re launching our AI Weekly Digest to help readers navigate this new technology landscape and share must-read news on developments, covering the latest in the media, creative and communications sectors as well as a broader view on the world of AI. 

ChatGPT was the spark for the AI surge, with HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah observing: “Netscape was to the Internet what ChatGPT is to Artificial Intelligence. The Internet existed before Netscape. But the browser helped millions of mere mortals connect the dots on what could be done, and dream of what could be.” 

For most people, using ChatGPT was the moment when they first saw a machine create content. It is simple to use, anyone can play with it, and it brought generative AI to life. And many have since experienced the power of visual generative AI with tools such as DALL-E or Midjourney. 

At PA Media Group we’ve already launched AI features and developed proofs of concept handling text and images. These include using large language models (LLMs) to summarise content for editorial purposes, implementing vector search to unlock more value from our content sets, and in our Alamy business developing ethical approaches to generative AI for images. We’re exploring Retrieval Augmented Generation and how the trusted, verified content which is our hallmark can help reduce the issue of LLMs producing ‘hallucinations’; and we’re reviewing how we can protect and certify our authentic photography as the image market absorbs the impact of AI. 

Integration of AI where users already spend their time will be a critical next phase, with Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot for developers two examples of building AI into existing workflows to increase productivity and creativity. In the wider market Canva are making strides with their Magic Studio deployed across the design process and Meta too is introducing AI within Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. 

As we change how we work and adopt new ideas it’s vital to retain a critical eye and understand the pitfalls around content accuracy, quality and provenance. Copyright is one of the hot topics and legal cases in this area could yet shift the landscape again. 

In recent weeks there’s been more talk of Artificial General Intelligence being close – this is the moment when AI systems become generally smarter than humans, and which Open AI CEO Sam Altman has described as an opportunity to “elevate humanity by increasing abundance, turbocharging the global economy, and aiding in the discovery of new scientific knowledge that changes the limits of possibility”. 

That milestone is likely still some time off but today’s developments are certainly paving the way. 

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