70 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE I t’s hard to think of another technological movement in which things have moved so quickly – or so unpredictably. The rise of artificial intelligence has been breathtaking in its speed, while its potential impact on so many areas of both work and non-work life has generated an unprecedented amount of comment and discussion. Perhaps inevitably, though, practical use cases have been quicker to emerge in some sectors than others. For example, media and entertainment production has proven to be an early adopter, with a variety of applications – from content localisation to archive indexing and management – ensuring that it has received broader attention. But if the more diffuse nature of pro audio-visual has meant that obvious use cases were slightly slower to emerge, there are definite signs that the sector is now catching up. In the process of compiling this article, LIVE encountered an impressive array of AI-enhanced solutions covering everything from live stage tracking to LED displays. There are also exciting hints that AI could be used to address some more practical problems, including the reduction of power consumption during a period when there is an acute awareness of the industry’s not-insignificant impact on the environment. What then follows is a snapshot of a remarkable explosion of creativity that shows no signs of abating any time soon.
Audio is still the biggest factor in understanding each other, but advanced video quality and algorithms became significantly more important”
READY TO INVEST But first, a little context. Some recent research from organisational design and planning platform specialist Orgvue strongly underlines the mixture of both excitement and uncertainty surrounding AI in 2024. It has found that 82% of organisations surveyed have already invested in AI, with another 33% saying they are expecting to increase this by more than 50% in the coming year. At the same time, however, the researchers also discovered that 48% of those interviewed were unsure about how to manage developments in AI in order to optimise use of the technology. It also reported that 80% planned to re-skill employees to use AI effectively in the workplace. All of this suggests that there is a significant opportunity for vendors to develop AI solutions which are complementary – rather than an alternative – to human workers and which can be readily understood by an entire workforce. CONFERENCING SOLUTIONS In pro AV, this has so far been manifested in several primary applications, of which improvements to conferencing and communication have perhaps been the most high profile. There is no doubt that Covid-19 and the subsequent normalisation of hybrid working played a part here, with so many companies realising – sometimes overnight – that their conferencing and collaboration capabilities were short of ideal.
Improvements in conferencing systems such as Sennheiser’s Team Connect Bar were largely driven by the need for hybrid employment
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