Media societies have made major errors by reacting to technological change in the past which must be avoided in the middle of the rise of artificial intelligence. It was the message shared by David Rhodes, executive president of Sky News and former president of CBS News, and Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and editor of The Wall Street JournalBoth in News Corp news, during an appearance at the Summit of the CEO of the CEO of the Wall Street Journal in London on Wednesday.
They spoke during a session, which was broadcast live and entitled “Media, machines and chaos: truth as competitive advantage”.
“There is a failure of the imagination” with regard to a vision of AI, argued Rhodes. “At the moment, we are talking about generative AI and are talking about answers to prompts, and we only think of the text. But what is really important for us is to be a design partner with all the companies … on what it looks like when something much more convincing happens, that is to say that these models come for video. We want this design partnership.”
Of course, the appropriate commercial and financial models for AI companies to use the content of the media remain a key goal and a debate issue. Various media companies have concluded license agreements with an AI company while pursuing another. “We also want to plead for good commerce conditions, for how our information, how our results are revealed in answers to these guests,” said Rhodes in this context. “We must not repeat what were the errors of the information media in the approach of the web 1.0 and even the web 2.0 and the social media, where major errors have been made.”
Latour echoes this when sharing the approach of his business at AI. Dow Jones has concluded a license agreement with Openai, but he continued Perplexity AI.
“We want a commercial arrangement with all AI platforms. This is the basis of information. Information is value, and we must, thanks to a market mechanism, reach this value,” he said. Stressing that Dow Jones spends $ 1.7 billion each year “to perform the small miracle which is the Wall Street Journal And all our other information, “he said that no one can expect to” take all your productivity this year … Give them for free, move it to the AI machine “, and take 130 years of archives without appropriate salary.” We are not going to let this happen. We need fair value for that, or otherwise there will be no news, ”concluded the CEO.
He did not let the words in his follow -up comments. “So we want to make commercial arrangements. If you don’t accept that, you are a thug, and we will come after you love a common thief,” said Latour. “We will see you in court, and we will say our business. And it may seem bellicose, but it is a necessity. ”
Rhodes on Wednesday did not comment on the dispute brought by US President Donald Trump against CBS News on how 60 minutes published the answer of his former opponent Kamala Harris to a question. The two parties were in mediation talks to try to resolve the costume, with Paramount would have offered $ 15 million to solve the costume. The Federal Communications Commission also examines the interview via its scope of the “distortion of the news” while examining the CBS Parent Global for sale in Skydance Media.
So, is there currently press freedom in the United States? “Yes, there is press freedom,” replied Latour. “I am asked this question all the time, especially when I travel abroad. Our journalists can go free, and our opinion editors are free to share their free markets, the philosophy of free people richly. ”
He continued: “There is a free debate. The president, of course, and the administration is free to answer this, and the level of decibels has increased. But I think there should not be hysteria.” Latour concluded: “The tension between an administration and the established media, or other media, is common. Wall Street Journal made a first -page story on the cognitive decline of President Biden, and it was not very comfortable. The level of decibels has definitely increased. »»
This conclusion finished the session. “In a world where apparently all voices have a platform, where stories can make or undo a company, and where public confidence in companies and institutions quickly eroded, the mission of global press organizations has never been so vital – or more complex,” said its description.
