Sister chief operating officer Jane Featherstone has called on the industry to embrace AI training and revealed concerns about the long-term sustainability of her company.
Speaking to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee as part of its high-end TV and film inquiry, Featherstone said AI training was not part of conversation in TV – but that it should be “at the centre of education training”, comparing it to the introduction of computer science when she was at school.
Sister has been using AI for some time in areas such as VFX and operates its own AI taskforce to see how the company could use the technology “in an effective, fair and correct way,” she said.
“We have never used it for anything editorial and I would want to understand what the regulatory framework is around protecting all of us,” Featherstone added.
“The old adage is it’s not AI who will take your job, it is someone who knows how to use AI who will take your job.”
Long-term concerns
Featherstone said she felt less confident about the sustainability of Black Doves and The Split [pictured] producer's business model than she did 18 months ago.
Speaking to MPs following the closure of the company’s US office, she said:
“I would like to think we’re very risk friendly as a company but I have to be honest in the last 18 months I have felt less inclined to take those risks because I don’t feel as confident about the sustainability of our business model. I now feel less safe than I did about investing long term for the future.”
With companies such as hers facing these concerns, and public broadcasters financing less than half of a drama’s budget, she said the UK is “getting closer to the indie film model at the lower cost end”.
To that end, she recommended increasing the tax incentive for high-end TV from 25% to 40% in line with independent films, with specific stipulations for PSB commissions and for nations and regions projects.
