AI used to aid Love Island casting process, ITV boss says

RTÉ News​

3 days ago

TV producers have been using AI to aid with the casting of shows such as Love Island, the chief executive of ITV has said.
Speaking as ITV announced its half-year results, Carolyn McCall said the broadcaster uses AI in many ways.
"We will use AI in any way we can to make what we do more efficient," she told members of the media.
"And a great example of that for me from (ITV) Studios is they're using a tool where it's a smart editing assistance and it's about speed and quality.
"And they used it for Love Island and casting this year.
"So that productivity gain means that they can go and do other things, which is really, really good."
Love Island has been a huge ratings hit for ITV since its launch in 2015, with each series receiving around 100,000 applications from members of the public.
A spokeswoman for ITV later explained that generative AI does not make any decisions during the Love Island casting process but is used to edit hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels for members of the team to then watch.
"It simply assists with the editing of audition tapes during the casting period," she said.
"We get thousands and thousands of applications every year and we hold face to face auditions.
"When we get to the stage of narrowing it down to hundreds of prospective Islanders and we want to share audition highlights on a reel with the ITV commissioning team, to support the casting decision, we use the software (Quickture along with an Adobe editing programme) to edit the hundreds of hours of footage into highlight reels.
"It means that the casting team can then spend more time researching and finding more prospective Islanders."
Announcing its latest results on Thursday, ITV said it had stepped up cost-cutting plans again following a slump in half-year profits.
The broadcaster said it was slashing costs by another £15 million, on top of £30 million previously announced, with spend on content being trimmed.
The group flagged using technology among efforts to drive the latest round of cost-cutting.