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So yesterday I spent a fun and enjoyable afternoon at The Vue Cinema, Leicester Square watching the wonderful APA Event, "The Future of Production". An event I have been to a couple of times before and always got something from. Yesterday's take-home was no different, although surprisingly it was (by their own admission) the least visually satisfying presentation of the day!
Whilst I always enjoy the showreels, panels and presentations, it was a rather more tame PowerPoint presentation from two lawyers that resonated the most. The majority of the schedule and afternoon, incorporated some element of Artificial Intelligence. How VFX and the wider production family are embracing this opportunity. I'm sure like most people in the industry, I'm still weighing up my feelings on this, and whether this is a force for good, or are we all gonna lose our jobs to robots.
Anna Poulter Jones and Jamie Smith, media and tech lawyers, spoke about the legal implications of AI. One significant issue they raised was data and IP protection, specifically the potential risks associated with sensitive information being entered on AI channels. This got me thinking about the impact of language models, like ChatGPT, and data protection breaches. While surely ChatGPT can be used as a tool to help prevent and mitigate such breaches, it's also important to consider the potential risks. They spoke around how AI systems can perpetuate existing biases and inequalities, making data breaches more likely or harmful.
As custodians of sensitive data, product launches (and post-squiggled NDA's!), we must be vigilant about the potential risks and benefits of AI. It's crucial to develop and use AI models in a responsible and ethical manner, with appropriate safeguards in place to protect privacy and prevent misuse. However, we must have that conversation internally with employees. We also owe it to our clients (and our agreed terms) to keep sensitive information away from external parties. Especially whilst we're still working it all out and there is ambiguity around ownership and any
deception.
If this is the future of advertising, we need to protect both our businesses and the clients we represent from confidential data and IP leaks obtained by nefarious means. As Anna and Jamie said, the law is so often playing catch up, due to the speed of change, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be aware of an ethical and legal obligation, to keeping best guarded secrets in-house.
So as they say, never judge a presentation by its powerpoint! It was a deeply unfair field as the other speakers were professionals, and whilst it had the likes of Nexus and Territory Studios blowing our tiny minds, it was the plain blue deck of the lawyers, that became my take home of the day!