Niels Beijer

5/5 (1)

At the moment, artificial intelligence is still mostly being used by the well-known tech companies, because of high development- and implementation costs. However, we can recognise the trend of AI being democratised: everyone will have access to machine learning technologies. But far from all companies have access to people that are knowledgeable in data science.

The one thing that will enable AI for everyone is cloud service. Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud are now offering AI cloud services, so that every industry can profit from this “next big thing”, not just tech companies. This has the potential to boost the economy grandly.

However, there are not nearly enough data scientists, who are just as necessary for companies as the technologies itself. The shortage is also one of the reasons why AI isn’t as widespread yet, but if the AI-cloud offerings really become mainstream for companies, it would mean that non-experts would be in control of the systems. These people do not know how to get the most value out of the data they have, and even more worrisome, they will not know how to deal with ethical dilemmas of AI. For example, the risk of having algorithms that are biased in gender or race will be much bigger in my opinion, and once in place, unskilled people will not be able to remove the biases. This will not be beneficial for the image of AI itself, so is highly undesirable. AI requires skilled and knowledgeable data scientists.

More people need to be educated in being data scientists. In the meantime, the earlier mentioned tech companies have identified a gap in the market. Google and Amazon already started with their own AI consultancies. I’m expecting that this is just the start of a trend. AI consulting will most likely become a big industry. However, this might further increase the might of the big tech companies.

[1] https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/technologies/2018/

[2] https://singularityhub.com/2018/02/19/the-democratization-of-ai-is-putting-powerful-tools-in-the-hands-of-non-experts/#sm.000189o86r6dpdgis4d164b3z1542

5/5 (1)

Almost all media types have been successfully transformed into a digital business model where information goods are combined, for example to create a subscription-based business model: Netflix for television and movies; Spotify for music. However, there is one massive market where this has not been big yet: quality journalism articles.

It seems like news is now a commodity: there are numerous websites that provide free news to read. But here we are talking about in-depth investigative articles: not the what, but the why. Even though subscription numbers have been declining for basically every newspaper, there is still a massive amount of people willing to pay for such quality content. Thus, the question question quickly arises: why is there no successful “Netflix for news” yet?

There are those that are trying. For example, there is Scribd, now combining magazines and books with articles from – among other newspapers – the New York Times, Financial Times and the Guardian, full access for $9 per month¹. Blendle has been trying the same in Europe and recently in the USA as well². Their subscription numbers are growing, but not close to a pace that shows that they are really going to shake up the industry. Is this because the potential market for such a service is simply not big enough, or something else?

It may be that the exposure of the Scribd and Blendle platforms is not big enough. A platform is as powerful as the network it has. From that perspective, it would be more meaningful if one of the big 5 tech companies would start having an interest in the market of quality journalism. In that light, it is a very interesting development that Apple is currently working on a service that combines most major American newspapers in their own subscription service. Apple can use their massive user base to spread the new service, and may integrate it into their existing “News” app. Moreover, Apple could bundle this service with its other subscription offerings (Apple Music, potentially a video streaming service) to create a “supersized subscription offering³.” Time will tell whether the strength of a platform is the missing link for a successful journalism platform, or that there are other issues that are the key.

The Risks of AI Democratisation

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Can there be a Netflix for journalism?

23

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