In this thought-provoking interview, PBS Director of Product & Digital Innovation, Mikey Centrella shares his excitement about how AI is reshaping storytelling. In his view, AI offers new possibilities for diverse creators and is transforming how we connect with audiences.

From faster production times to personalized content, Mikey dives into the potential of AI to democratize filmmaking and media experiences. But as AI accelerates, he also raises important questions about creativity and critical thinking in an increasingly automated world. Get an inspiring look into the future of AI in the media & publishing industry, and what it means for both creators and consumers.

Tune into the full 30-minute interview here.

Key Topics

00:00 - Introduction to Mikey Centrella and his role at PBS HQ
03:14 - AI enabling new voices and democratizing content creation
06:13 - Ethical ai concerns: critical thinking and homogeneity
11:14 - AI personalization in media: recommendations and playlists
15:07 - Chatbots for audience engagement and content discovery
17:52 - AI integration in workplace tools and its impact on productivity
21:10 - Future of AI in content discovery and marketing to AI engines
24:01 - Practical AI applications for nonprofit media companies
27:35 - Mikey’s list of crazy AI ideas: "Ask PBS Anything" and more
30:53 - Vision for AI-powered personalized content feeds

Q&A

Stephanie Pereira: I'm curious, what excites you most about AI opening doors for diverse storytellers?

Mikey Centrella: It's really a wonderful time that we're living in in terms of video and filmmaking. It's a renaissance. With generative AI, what I'm most excited about is that for visual storytellers, the AI tools can really help to bring these stories to life without a huge budget.

Production crews can work faster than they ever could before as a result of cloud and AI. Integrating AI into video, film, and animation will help make storytelling better and bring a new level of creativity. It's going to give accessibility to folks who may not have those huge budgets, creating this democratization of access that allows people to make high-quality productions without having to go across the world to shoot something or have expensive rendering machines.

Stephanie: What keeps you up at night about the acceleration of AI?

Mikey: I'm actually more worried that as AI gets integrated into our lives, we might give our judgment over to it for speed, ease, or pressure. Does that mean the output we're getting from AI becomes more homogeneous? If we blindly start suggesting AI do our work for us, does that mean we as humans won't be doing the critical thinking anymore?

I'm concerned about that homogeneity, that monoculture-ness, that misinformation that will be all over everything we do. AI doesn't really "think." It doesn't do associative thinking the way we do as humans. It doesn't have emotions, memories, or feelings. So if we stop doing that and just allow AI to do everything for us, what happens there?

Stephanie: There's been a lot of buzz around personalization in media, and you're actually building it at PBS. What has surprised you most about how AI is changing the way we connect with audiences?

Mikey: What surprises me is that AI makes a big difference. It leads to some of the larger business goals for any organization, but certainly for a video-based organization. It helps with retention, getting people back to watch more of the shows they love, and engaging with them. It helps them discover or learn about new shows. We're doing this with recommendation engines, personalized playlists, and experimenting with previews, recaps, and notifications.

We're also using AI for content processing, like encoding, transcription, and translations. These things lead to personalization as well, because it helps us deliver videos to you in the language you want, on the device you're on, and in the right bit rate.

Stephanie: Looking ahead to the next six months, what possibilities are you most excited about, and what do you think leaders should be preparing for?

Mikey: First off, AI is going to be integrated into all of our tools whether we like it or not. Leaders should be prepared for that and acknowledge that people are already using it. That means you should give your staff guidelines, access, or help them upskill.

From an industry perspective, we might start to see a decrease in link-based search, which means we, as publishers, have to shift how we market to these AI engines and platforms. We're also likely to see advancements in AI where tasks can happen in multiple sequences, which could greatly improve internal workflows and productivity.

Stephanie: What are some creative ways that you've been thinking about content repurposing and even digital products?

Mikey: One idea that's been on my mind for a long time is "Ask PBS Anything." Imagine if you could have a chat dialogue with PBS about shows, actors, or specific information? We could repurpose content by training an LLM on all the information from our shows and send out relevant clips or information.

We're also thinking about personalized recaps for long documentaries, where AI could create custom summaries based on viewers' interests.

Another idea is using AI to help our creative teams generate new script ideas for promos by analyzing transcripts and identifying emotional moments. There are lots of fun ways we're thinking about repurposing content at PBS, and AI is going to take us to new levels.

Watch the full 30-minute interview here on YouTube.