AIGC stands for Artificial Intelligence Generated Content, which is a technology that creatively generates content using artificial intelligence algorithms and training data. AIGC represents a new trend in AI technology development; in the past, traditional AI focused on analytical capabilities, whereas now AI is generating new content through large amounts of training data and generative algorithm models, automatically producing various forms of content such as text, images, music, videos, and 3D interactive content. AI painting , AI writing, AI conversation, AI podcasts, and AI search engines are all branches of AIGC.
AIGC is an upgraded version of AI, focusing more on content generation, and its impact on the media industry is becoming more tangible.
The Surge of Media Accessing AIGC Tools
In February this year, over 30 media platforms, including The Paper under the Shanghai Media Group, upstream news under the Chongqing Daily Group, Elephant News under Henan Radio and Television Station, and the Daily Economic News, announced their integration with Baidu’s “Wenxin Yiyan” (a generative dialogue product based on Baidu’s Wenxin large model technology), becoming ecological partners. Additionally, according to Bloomberg, the American digital media giant BuzzFeed has launched a testing column quizzes that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to answer, attempting to use AI-generated content for profit. These significant actions indicate that media access to AIGC tools may become a new wave of transformation.
The reason, according to research by Assistant Professor Xiang Anling from the School of Journalism and Communication at Minzu University of China, is that among many AIGC application fields, the media industry is the most eye-catching. AIGC tools can assist journalists in theme planning and content writing, providing help in content layout and information collection; when combined with digital virtual human technology and intelligent voice synthesis technology, they can form applications for natural human-machine interaction; when integrated with AIGC’s drawing, video, and screenwriting technologies, they can create new methods for content creation; attaching such content creation technology platforms to new media platforms and hosting content creation activities for internet users can not only popularize artificial intelligence technology and stimulate user creativity but also enhance new media platforms’ attraction to users.
AIGC’s Emergence is a Technological Advancement and a Reflection of Content Production Bottlenecks
In the field of content production, before the emergence of AIGC, PGC and UGC successively dominated. PGC (Professionally Generated Content) was the earliest form of content creation, referring to content created by professional media organizations or individuals, while UGC (User Generated Content) refers to content created and shared by ordinary users through internet platforms.
Whether PGC or UGC, the main subject of content production is still human beings, just appearing in different identities in the production activity. The insufficient productivity of content may have been temporarily alleviated by blurring the boundaries between content production and consumption and releasing the productivity under the identity of “consumers,” but the knowledge graph of the human brain is ultimately limited. When the production potential of both content producers and consumers is exhausted, the gap in content consumption demand becomes increasingly apparent.
With ChatGPT appearing, people have seen its enormous capabilities and potential in content creation. This has also sparked attention and discussion about AIGC behind it. AIGC is considered a new type of content creation method following PGC and UGC. AIGC has developed rapidly in various fields such as text, images, audio/video, and software development, with many AI content generators helping users overcome writing barriers and provide valuable content.
Transformations and Opportunities Brought by Production to Form
Producing multimodal media content: With the emergence and use of AIGC tools, video products can now be generated by simply inputting a few lines of text, and even the creative style can be “transferred”; the cost of generating high-quality, multimodal media content is almost zero. Furthermore, from the perspective of the news production process, AIGC can provide images, can write articles, can interact, and can search. AIGC can improve the efficiency and scale of content production, reduce labor costs, promote the deep integration and digital transformation of media, and enhance communication power and influence.
Promoting the Shift of Media to Intelligent Media: Human-machine collaborative production can promote media integration, such as intelligent news writing, enhancing the timeliness of news information; intelligent video editing, enhancing the value of video content, such as AI synthetic anchors (like Shanghai’s “Shen Yaya,” Hunan’s “Xiao Yang,” Beijing’s “Time Xiao Ni,” and Zhejiang’s “Gu Xiao Yu”). In terms of content construction, it shifts from supporting software operation service platforms to exploring intelligent production, bringing new visual and interactive experiences, thus promoting the transformation of media into intelligent media.
Developing New Content Products and Interactive Experiences: The Xinhua News Agency’s client has tested the intelligent voice robot “Xiao Xin,” responding to user commands such as “What major news is there from the National Two Sessions?” “What is the weather like tomorrow?” “I want to book a flight to Shanghai.” The Central Radio and Television’s “Voice of China” also jointly launched the “Xiawen” App, aiming to create “chat news” to provide users with a high-quality instant news interactive experience. With the maturity of intelligent chat programs, chat-based news products have huge development potential.
Changes in Advertising Marketing Patterns: As ChatGPT combines with more generative AI, AIGC will naturally change the content supply chain ecology, lowering the cost of private domain content marketing and improving the conversion efficiency of private domain traffic; replacing various KOL’s UGC or PGC content with AIGC will lead to a reshuffling of the self-media KOL/influencer marketing ecology.
Although AIGC can help traditional media generate more diverse and high-quality content and improve work efficiency, it is not omnipotent. While enjoying the convenience brought by technology, AIGC may also pose potential risks.
First, according to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology’s test results on ChatGPT, it performs well in open-domain content creation but still has deficiencies in generating under constrained conditions such as topic writing and summarization. “It can be seen that currently, ChatGPT can only replace some developmental collaborative writing tasks; if additional constraints are added, its performance will significantly decline. Therefore, in the short term, it cannot replace writing needs that have high requirements and high constraint scenarios.
Second, AIGC’s content production can be based on original works or public materials, or it can be adaptations, translations, annotations, and reorganizations of others’ works, as well as works recreated through fair use. Therefore, the copyright ownership of produced works is diverse and complex, which may involve risks of infringing on others’ copyrights or other related rights, such as copyright infringement, violation of creative rights limitations, ownership disputes, and content review and regulation issues. To allow ChatGPT to learn different language styles and topics, OpenAI used media organizations like Bloomberg and CNN as data sources without obtaining authorization from these organizations. These media organizations believe OpenAI has infringed on their copyrights and intellectual property rights, demanding compensation from OpenAI. This incident has also triggered ethical and legal issues regarding AI-generated content.
Third, AIGC may produce low-quality or erroneous content, affecting the authenticity and credibility of information. When creators use AIGC to generate images, issues such as information distortion and illogicality may occur, which could mislead audiences and lead to the widespread dissemination of false information. The New York Times reported that the American news credibility assessment and research organization NewsGuard tested ChatGPT, asking it conspiracy-laden and false narrative questions, and it produced articles in the form of news, essays, and television scripts, generating a large volume of convincing, clean content without any sources in just seconds.
As technology develops and progresses, AIGC’s impact on the media industry will grow, and the market scale will increase accordingly. The media industry should actively respond to the opportunities and challenges brought by AIGC, continuously enhance its competitiveness and innovation, and collaboratively form a more diversified and intelligent content ecosystem. Seize opportunities in the advertising marketing field, embrace AI, and establish a more compatible marketing ecology.
This article is sourced from the internet. Copyright statement: it is only an article pushed by the “Huaxia Qihang Research Institute”.
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