Buzzfeed AI innovation highlights value of media content

TLDR version: Artificial intelligence has started to create new opportunities for value-added media service, but differentiation is going to be hard to find. AI media success will rely on unique content, not just intelligent search capabilities. That will put incumbent media in the driver’s seat.

Buzzfeed AI tool to drive user engagement

Last month, BuzzFeed launched its first AI chatbot application “Botatouille”. Buzzfeed already operates its Tasty app and has a strong sub-brand amongst foodie users.

According to Buzzfeed, users can have a real-time conversation with Botatouille by asking cooking questions like: what recipes can I make with the ingredients in my fridge, how long do you cook salmon, how do you clean cast iron, and more. This marks the first AI utility product developed by Tasty.

Buzzfeed says that “we developed Botatouille with our audience in mind; bringing together Tasty’s culinary insights and innovative AI technology to help our community navigate every part of the cooking process”. In other words, they are leveraging their own content rather than scraping the web.

Buzzfeed is contemplating creating subscription services along these lines. This is part of a broader strategy to drive new revenues and strengthen their direct relationships with users of its services. The benefit of such a strategy is to reduce dependence on advertising and on the social media giants who dominate the online advertising market.

Why does this matter?

Sceptics question the value of these initiatives, and it can be argued that AI in this case is just a more sophisticated chatbot. They further point out that it is not possible to differentiate on AI technology, as everyone is now using the same AI platforms. Indeed, the AI platform owners (including Google and Meta) are likely to start holding back the best functionality for their own applications before long.

The sceptics have a point about AI technology. Any media company that relies on global AI platforms to support its media applications will find it difficult to differentiate on technology. And the scale of these global players makes it impractical to compete directly, so this seems inescapable

But Botatouille also highlights the dependence of AI technology on content. We’ve already commented on the growing tension between AI platform providers and the copyright holders whose work is being used to train AI models. But even a trained model needs something to work with. An AI chatbot is just a vessel and requires something to fill it.

This puts content-based media in a strong position in the AI applications market. The proliferation and commodification of AI technology that is occurring in real time means that, once again, “content is king”. The opportunity for content-based media is to build stronger relationships with users, listeners, and viewers by using AI to personalise content. One major benefit of this is to help content-based media to bypass the social media channel.

Generative AI is another opportunity for media, provided it can retain control of its content and leverage it. Generative AI platform Mage Space offer the open source Stable Diffusion 1.5 and 2.x models for user to create images with. But paid users also get access to a range of models trained to be better at producing certain types of content, be that certain specific anime style, ‘Disney’ style, or 3D art. There is no reason why established media cannot do the same using their own content.

The real differentiation in AI-driven applications will be about the content itself, rather than technology. Coupled with a legal strategy to protect proprietary content from AI platforms, this can place media strongly in future AI markets.

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