Bagila Isakova, broadcasting technology expert, Kazakhstan, in the TKT1957 survey «The year 2030: AI or engineer?».

1. How will the broadcasting industry and broadcast technologies change in the next 5 years?
2. If we model the world of broadcasting and broadcast tech in 2030, what role will AI play?
3. How will AI change your business segment?
4. Which professions will AI displace in the broadcasting technology industry by 2030?

1. Traditional SDI infrastructures will continue to be upgraded to infrastructures utilizing IP technologies. The rapid development of digital technologies such as 5G and 6G, generative AI, cloud computing, and virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) will enable the creation of more personalized interactive user experiences and the delivery of content quickly without quality loss. This, in turn, will lead to the widespread adoption of more advanced viewing devices using 3D imaging technologies and VR and AR, ranging from gesture-controlled 3D screens or mobile screens (transforming tablets or TVs) to virtual or AR glasses. Consequently, technologies for creating content adapted for such devices in 3D or VR and AR, and their processing will evolve and transform. Studios for content recording will also adapt to various forms of content, with virtual studios likely becoming more in demand. More virtual content with 3D models and interactive features will be required. Accordingly, there will be a strong demand for technologies to process and edit content in 3D, 360 degrees, and ultra-high quality such as 8K, which will also drive the development of technologies for delivering such content over broadband networks.

2. From a user experience perspective, AI will play the following role. As we know, there is already an oversaturation of content and content providers, which will lead to significant confusion when choosing content in the future. Digital platforms and broadcasters will undoubtedly have to apply the latest technologies and AI to develop smart content selection and recommendation capabilities for their viewers. Moreover, I have no doubt that as viewers, we will want to choose our own avatar based on appearance and voice as the news or program presenter. Thus, the concept of broadcasting is already transforming from linear to more personalized, regardless of viewing devices. From a technological perspective of content creation and processing, AI will help automate routine tasks such as quality control during and before broadcasting, perform rough editing—automatically editing videos, adding effects, and performing other actions, speeding up the entire content production process, personalizing content and avatars, and playing a major role in content management—automatically recognizing objects, faces, and context in videos, simplifying metadata creation, content search, and further archiving.

3. From a technological standpoint for content and news creation, AI will help automate and optimize many processes.

4. We should not fear AI or see it as a threat that will replace many professions in our industry. On the contrary, we should leverage all AI capabilities in our field, or as the saying goes, “AI took my job to the next level”—elevating our work to a new level. For example, I am confident that by 2030, broadcasting and digital platforms will revolve around delivering personalized content, which will undoubtedly require analyzing vast amounts of data. Here, we cannot do without AI. Who else can help us process all the data quickly and efficiently in seconds? Journalists or archivists spend their time watching and filling in data, while they could spend that time on creative activities to create truly engaging text or stories.

All the opinions of industry leaders can be seen in the survey “Year 2030: AI or Engineer?”.