With AI dominating the headlines, from OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman as well as the recent AI summit held in the UK last month hosted by the British Prime Minister on regulation, the Profuz Digital Blog reporter decided to find out industry opinion on all things AI and how it will influence them.

The first person we approached to share insights on this important topic is developer Kamen Ferdinandov – CTO of Profuz Digital and creator of SubtitleNEXT, Profuz LAPIS and NEXT-TT.

We sat down with Kamen to find out his thoughts:

Q&A on AI with CTO Kamen Ferdinandov from Profuz Digital.

Question 1: What are your thoughts on AI right now and the direction it is moving in generally?

Kamen’s response: AI is not a trend, it is here to stay and will advance.

Artificial Intelligence has been around for a very long time, in fact for the past 50 years. I have personally been working with AI for over ten years already. It started to become a hot topic due to the Large Language Models that have drawn mainstream media attention such as the likes of ChatGPT and so forth. It reflects how we are starting to see the quality of large language models improving dramatically now and picking up pace in these areas.

AI is also making progress in image recognition and so many other areas. AI excels at its speed to search data – using it in practice in our industry, it can cut down on manual and laborious functions that tie people down from getting on with the creative work they could be focusing on.

AI is actually a very broad term and is the outer shell definition of many technologies that include machine learning, deep learning, large language models and more. It’s important to differentiate AI from humans and to remember that AI is not human – it doesn’t have empathy, it can’t walk and it can’t learn by itself as humans can. Although we know AI can be self learning, this means it is learning existing patterns or information it can access, unlike how humans learn and experience and learn from experience of life. In the large language models (LLM) domain, it appears we can communicate with AI, and it seems to provide fairly good info and copy.

AI can play a major role, and already does, in the area of statistics – it can assess patterns and analyse data faster than any human can manage in the same time-frame.

Question 2: Do you have any security concerns about AI – could it get out of and decide to exterminate us as Elon Musk says could happen?

Kamen’s response: No, I am not concerned that AI will do something against humanity all by itself. The reason there is fear, is people do not understand the technology.

I do, however think it is wise for regulation of AI and this is good. However in terms of could AI become a weapon for example as a worst case scenario? I foresee that it could be possible, but that it is probably no different to what a human can do.

Question 3: Do you think AI will replace humans or do you see it being a co-pilot assistant role and helping humans work better?

Kamen’s response: The way to look at AI, is that it will be business-driven, and essentially the question to ask will be what do businesses need – what is the purpose and what is driving AI? How will AI enhance businesses?

As with any new revolution or technological change that happens, businesses either adapt or disappear. If we read history, we can see that it is no different to any other revolution we have encountered such as the industrial revolution and with training and correct regulation, AI can be a positive tool.

If AI is not trained to handle copyright materials, for example, this course can be an area of concern, however, the same applies with human beings at work and security measures will be applied to reinforce security breaches that could happen, as they can now already.

How I see it is that AI needs to be embraced because it is not going away and it will help us complete many tasks a lot faster and with accuracy. If we look at how technology has affected us historically, we can see that working together with tech, helps us accomplish a lot, faster, together. I don’t believe AI is going to replace human jobs as such, however some jobs will inevitably dissolve as new technologies evolve, and this is what happens in technological revolutions, but those people will find other jobs.

On the one hand, many people right now in the industry are afraid and threatened by AI possibly taking their job away because this will also mean employers don’t have to pay wages, so it lowers outgoing costs. On the other hand, businesses require quality results which AI might not be able to do without human QC or intervention. For example, small TV studios that have to adhere to mandatory regulations to air captions with all their shows, might find it more profitable to use AI, however quality could be inferior compared to human subtitling professionals at the helm. Therefore having both makes more sense.

The motivation for businesses using or not using AI will vary in the years to come. I think businesses that choose not to embrace AI, will eventually disappear. Some businesses will adopt AI purely because they are doing what they are seeing others doing and want to maintain a competitive edge. Others will take a risk and use new technologies and innovations from the start and will exploit AI for their advantage and will evolve.

These are just my thoughts on AI generally at this current stage, however we have a great deal of respect for our customers and their concerns are our priority. We listen to what they want to suit their specific requirements. We are proud of our innovative approach and offer customised technology that helps to future-proof an organisation to help them work more efficiently in a cost-effective manner. Although we advise, we don’t dictate to our customers and we work with them to find solutions that work in their unique environment, whether it involves AI in future or not at all, is their prerogative.

Kamen’s forward-thinking Profuz LAPIS digital asset management technology has caught the attention of many high profile organisations including most recently, the Council of Europe that went on to invest in the system, along with many other companies that use LAPIS technology. The Council is a body designed to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe, and is renowned for pioneering new standards, which have progressed to become global benchmarks. It is the role of the Council of Europe to ensure that human rights, democracy and the rule of law are protected and promoted in the digital environment including AI.

Other organisations that have already adopted Profuz Digital’s technology include London’s Titles-On, EMG, Tarjama in the UAE, IT Pros Italy, Digitalmeister GmbH, Leinhäuser Language Services GmbH, Polsat, Kino Polska, The Bulgarian National Radio, Belgium’s Max Live Media Access, Biovisjon, Doli Media Studio, Cube Cinema Technologies, Tring TV, Bulgarian National Television, Canal Plus, AMC, HD Media, KU Leuven University of Leuven, Belgium, University of Rome Tor Vergata, University of Warsaw, University of Ghent, European School of Translation, Hellenic American College of Greece, the Complutense University of Madrid, and many others.

Many of these companies will be able to take advantage of Profuz LAPIS and SubtitleNEXT’s AI capabilities in the future as they are added to the system as and when required.

Visit Profuz Digital at www.profuzdigital.com to find out more.

If you would like to contribute to this topic, please email info@profuzdigital.com and we will interview you and share your responses in our upcoming blog series.