About 20 staff members from the School of Communication visited the Artificial Intelligence Lab of Hong Kong Radio Television (RTHK) in Kwun Tong on 12 December 2024. The visit aimed to enable the staff members to gain firsthand insight into how AI technology is applied in broadcasting production.
Ms. WAI Pui Man, Echo, Acting Controller (Production Services) of RTHK, introduced the AI facilities in the lab to the visiting staff members and played clips on the spot, demonstrating how to combine AI anchors, AI scenes, AI translation, and AI sound effects to produce broadcasting programmes, including multilingual broadcasts serving different language communities. The RTHK team then provided a detailed explanation of the various aspects behind the production, such as using an AI system to capture the movements and expressions of real people to control the actions and expressions of AI characters, making them come to life on screen, as well as generating and editing photos, videos, and sound using AI software. The team pointed out that in the past, finding suitable on-screen broadcasters and translators, translating scripts, recording, editing videos, photos, and sound, creating images, and even designing looks and selecting outfits for on-screen personnel or artists were all time-consuming and costly. With the assistance of AI, efficiency has significantly increased, and expenses have been greatly reduced. However, they noted that despite AI’s considerable role in fostering creativity and reducing workload, the professional judgment of humans is still necessary to appropriately combine all components to produce programmes that meet broadcasting standards. Therefore, looking to the future, humans should view AI as an extremely efficient work partner rather than a potential competitor. The focus should be on learning how to utilise AI. As for communication education, related training should naturally be regarded as an indispensable part, both now and in the future.
All staff members expressed a strong interest in the application of AI in broadcasting, raising various questions about issues they encountered while using AI for media production and editing and exchanged insights with the RTHK team. After the exchanges, Ms. WAI delivered her conclusion, and the visit reached a successful close.
This visit deepened the staff members’ understanding of the use of AI in the communication industry and provided significant inspiration for the School in developing plans and enhancing the contents of its programmes.
Ms. WAI Pui Man, Echo, Acting Controller (Production Services) of RTHK, introduced the facilities of the AI Lab to the staff members of the School of Communication and played a demonstration video for illustration.
Ms. WAI demonstrated how real-people movements could drive the movements of AI characters through an AI system.
The production team explained how to use AI software to produce and edit sound clips.
The staff members of the School of Communication were deeply impressed by the facilities of the AI Lab and the related demonstrations, and took a group photo in the AI Lab.
