ITV is recruiting a Head Of Generative AI Innovation – and the job ad shows where its intentions are lying.
ITV has begun advertising for a Head Of Generative AI Innovation position, with a job specification that requires the successful candidate to “spearhead AI-driven innovations in content creation for TV shows, films and digital-first content”.
You might need a drink for the next bit.
The role demonstrates where ITV is looking to increasingly deploy AI, through the likes of personalisation on its streaming service, and such like. But it’s in the creative work where the jaw drops a little.
The job advertisement, that you can still read here at the time of writing, requires that the Head Of Generative AI Innovation “Implement tools like AI-generated ideation, character development, and enhanced production graphics.” That’s in relation to “content creation.
Ideation being, of course, the posh job advert word for ‘coming up with ideas’. If a job advert has the word ‘ideation’ in it, it generally means one of two things: that it’s a very well paid job, or it’s working for a very well paid person.
Anyway, the successful candidate will be earning £85,000-95,000 for the role, which seems to signal shift for generative AI into actually coming up with ideas for ITV’s programmes in the first place. Is it feasible an upcoming ITV drama will be the beneficiary of AI-generated ideation, and that an AI tool will have determined character development rather than, say, a writer?
The job advert suggests too that this first hire is just the beginning. The role requires the person who lands it to “Build and lead a high-performance team of AI experts, developers, and researchers.”
Inevitably there’s been a bit of backlash to this, but ITV has argued to The Telegraph (via MSN) that “While nothing can replace the human creativity of our teams, we are exploring how GenAI can help our staff to work more efficiently and creatively and optimise our content for viewers.”
Applications for the role close in a week’s time. Presumably, the successful candidate will not be writing their application using ChatGPT. That’d be morally wrong, after all.
