I'M
going to begin this by addressing the robot- shaped elephant in the room. I know people are really getting tired of talking and hearing about AI. In many respects, so am I. But it’s important to remember that AI is not simply one single technical entity, and instead actually comes in a large (and growing) number of shapes and sizes. From generative to predictive, conversational to agentic, even Shrek would have to agree that this technical onion has many hidden layers.
Ogres aside, innovation in AI – and our understanding of how it can be used – is snowballing. In this instance, we are going to be looking at the agentic variant, which has already been making considerable waves across the broadcast and streaming tech sector. One thing that quickly became clear to me when sitting down with industry experts to discuss this topic is that this sector in particular provides an excellent proving ground for what can be achieved with this widely misunderstood tool. “But what actually is agentic AI?” I found myself asking each interviewee. Maria Minaricova is the director of business development at Fetch.ai, and she distinguishes it clearly from the more commonly understood forms. “Agency means autonomy,” she outlines. “The idea is that I am able to speak to my agent and give it commands, but then the agent goes out and tries to achieve that on my behalf. This is one of the biggest differences, as people often immediately think of GenAI when it comes to agentic. Generative AI generates things: text, images, etc. Agentic means to achieve goals on behalf of its owner.” Greater autonomy is one of agentic’s many flashy advantages over its generative predecessors, which are often limited by the information contained in the datasets upon which models are trained. “This wave of agentic AI will become quite spectacular when it truly hits the major broadcasters,” emphasises Paras Chugh, who is an associate practice leader for HFS Research. “But they need to start moving on it now, as content is getting commoditised fast. Everyone can become a creator right now with the right open weight models and other tools, but the key differentiation is the one who holds the IP.” Why now? Industry buzzwords come and go so fast it’s difficult for even those of us constantly writing about them to keep up. Some might question whether agentic AI is just another breed of AI mania that will fade out into the background in a few years’ time – or whether it really is that next tech wonder to completely alter the world’s course. Trevor Neal, CEO of RedSquid TV, highlights to us his own decades’ worth of experience in helping industries embrace transformative technology. “I’m probably best known for being one of the original team members behind the M Star Digital TV Group,” he begins. “You may never have heard of M Star, but it was launched during a time when the television industry was going through the change of analogue transmission to digital, and then from digital to smart TV.”
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