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AI permeated almost every aspect of ISE 2025 but experts and
executives were keen to stress AV’s indivisible role in meshing tech with the
art of communication.
Despite predictions of pending job losses in every
workplace due to AI, there’s a belief that the technology will never replace
the art of communication – which is what professional AV is broadly about.
These are the ‘soft skills’ inherent in the DNA of every
human which AI boosters view as more important than ever as the AI evolution
unfolds.
“Technology implementation is a core engine of growth for
many markets but unlike information technology, proAV is as much art as it is a
science,” said Sean Wargo, VP Market Intelligence, AVIXA at ISE in Barcelona.
In the show’s opening keynote, digital anthropologist and
futurist Brian Solis urged attendees to reimagine AI’s role. The ISE community
already recognises job loss, job creation, automated programming, and AI-based
signage, he said, so why not ask GenAI what are the hidden risks and barriers
that could slow adoption?
“If you're waiting for somebody to tell you what to do,
you're on the wrong side of innovation,” he warned. “At some point, we're going
to have to push ourselves in a new direction because constant iteration isn't
going to create the next light bulb moment.”
AI can not only help iterate a product or make processes
more efficient, it can also spark out-of-the-box ideas that we were unlikely to
conceive any other way. All you have to do is ask (prompt) your AI to give you
the answers you least expect.
“We have to put creativity back into work,” he said. “It's
the soft human skills that allow us to explore possibilities.”
This theme was picked up by digital artist Quayola who makes
what he terms ‘Algorithmic Poetics’ and ‘Robotic Sculptures’. Through his art
and tools such as AI and 3D printing, the Italian “looks at the world
differently”, he said in ISE’s second main keynote.
“I employ technology as a collaborator to enhance my
observations. My work is not about a live experience but rather a different
reading of the world where machines provide new opportunities to discover new
aesthetics and new observations.”
Creative thinking is deemed key to unlocking business in the
age of AI. In its recent “Future of Jobs” report, the World Economic Forum
listed cross-disciplinary attributes such as resilience, agility,
self-motivation and curiosity that employees now want from their workers over
and above a deep understanding of AI and big data.
Quoting the WEF report, Emily Patterson, Learning Designer
at Cambridge University Press, emphasised that “agile and critical thinking” is
vital for problem-solving in the age of big data and AI. These aren’t areas
that are necessarily valued by governments or education establishments which
seem to prioritise single-subject expertise and STEM.
“It is possible to teach creativity,” she insisted.
There’s even a trend that goes back to the basics of
handwritten communication as a quicker and improved means of brainstorming and
sharing human knowledge. German company Bikablo calls its visual training
and communication system “thinking in pictures” and explains how “more and more
people are capturing organisational knowledge and designing smarter products.”
It recently partnered with ISE exhibitor iDMA which has
developed a way of transferring handwritten notes and shapes into digital form
for wider sharing on smart boards or electronic devices.
“This will help traditional AV dealers rapidly grasp AI
technology opportunities for higher profits,” claimed iDMA’s CEO Larry Woo. “We
hope that real-time handwriting helps more people to organise their ideas and
grasp key points easily.”
Yet analogue concepts like this will soon be obsolete if
Silicon Valley systems integrator Rich Green is to be believed. He has designed
AV home interiors for luminaries like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison and expects
to see breakthroughs in Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) as soon as this
year, he told ISE.
AGI is next-level AI being worked on by OpenAI and others
which will see the tech attain or surpass human-level brain ability. Most
futurists view AGI as probable but several years to decades away.
Green suggested AGI would pave the way for advanced chips to
be surgically implanted in the human body (as is happening already with
experiments in Brain Computer Interfaces) a move which would potentially
supercharge a person’s intelligence. When that happens, “AI can be
superscaled,” he declared. “The potential size [of the market] is anywhere from
all software to all human endeavours. It’s the end game. Don’t bash it. Embrace
it.”
In the conference session ‘Visions of Tomorrow’ panellists
debated where they see AI’s biggest impact. Sarah Cox, Founder and MD of
Neutral Human, said: “AI will accelerate the speed at which we receive
information and personalisation. To some people, this will seem scary, but I’m
excited because the digital-first generation will run with this.”
Florian Rotberg, MD, Invidis Consulting, also pointed to
AI’s role in supercharging personalised experiences and eliminating language
barriers. “We’ve already seen how GenAI is changing the industry in terms of
creating and translating new content and being able to localise it with
different information and artwork. Whether you want to interact with a machine
or if you’re talking to someone whose native language is not yours or if you
want a senior citizen to feel inclusive to your service then AI will deliver
instant, clear and personalised communication.”
Solis, a speaker on this panel, alluded to the future of
entertainment as an ‘empathy engine’. “This is the idea of using AI to analyse
the opportunity to evoke emotion in real-time and to hyper-personalise that
experience,” he explained.
“How do you elevate the experience of something for someone
so that they never forget it? There are only two experiences someone will
remember: those that suck and those that are amazing. Design for amazing.”
Live drives broadcast AV drives proAV
Live experiences and video content are fuelling growth
across the board from high street brands to enterprise giants and government
departments.
“ProAV technology has become a crucial component of
adaptation out of the pandemic for a cross-section of industries,” explained
Sean Wargo. “For instance, where airports once had the occasional large LED
screen now such displays are critical for information and when they go down the
whole airport suffers.”
The proAV market is expected to bounce back in 2025 after
dropping from 6.9% to 6.1% growth between 2023-2024, adding around U$100bn over
the next five years to become a market worth U$450bn, in figures shared by
trade body AVIXA.
“ProAV is in transition away from pandemic recovery to new engines of growth
driven by the experience economy.”
These are emerging opportunities in spaces that we might not
have expected, Wargo added, not least as retailers and corporates adopt media
production facilities in-house to sate growing demand to communicate their
message internally and online.
The broadcast AV industry reached $18bn in media technology
product sales in 2024, reflecting robust growth across diverse vertical markets
and presenting exciting prospects for further growth as the proAV and broadcast
industries converge.
“The converging broadcast AV space covers everything from
virtual production to virtual reality through to OTT streaming and
broadcasting,” said Ciarán Doran, Chair of the Broadcast AV Summit. “Reference
case studies are hugely important because I believe it's really important that
people are able to see what peers in the industry are already doing.”
The agenda for the summit was to connect experts on the
broadcasting side with clients keen to invest in content production on the AV
side.
Hannah Shellswell, a former ITV presenter who runs her own
media training consultancy said: “Whether we’re working in AV or in broadcast
it's all about telling stories, delivering content and doing that more
effectively. Broadcasting is no longer just television. It's a way of opening
up new channels to markets. Getting content in front of people is what brands
and corporates are really trying to do right now. They are going direct to
their audience.”
Esports demonstrates convergence
Arguably this convergence is most apparent in esports.
Having started out being streamed online from players’ bedrooms, electronic
multiplayer games have now moved into arenas filled with spectators and the
production equipment has been upgraded as a result.
ISE hosted a sizeable stage where live esports competitions were played and
streamed. This was organised by LVP, an esports producer owned by Spanish media
production group Mediapro. Together with games publisher EA Sports, LVP runs
LALIGA FC Pro as well as eLaLiga Santander, the official FIFA competition in
Spain that LVP produces for LaLiga and Electronic Arts.
Carles Negreiro, Senior Project Manager, LVP said: “We
started out with lightweight production tools and were broadcasting with two
people in a control room. Now, with Mediapro, we have significant numbers of
people [in production]. We have Steadicams and aerial cams just like broadcast
soccer and we are taking workflows into software and the cloud allowing us to
go live at scale. Esports is blowing up as a result.”
Adam Marshall, Chief Product Officer at Grass Valley, whose
kit is used almost identically in both formats, said: “Esports is learning from
the traditional broadcast space as well. The two worlds are meshing as are the
technologies.”
Now, esports’ presentation techniques are bleeding into
traditional sports. George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe, noted the
rise of “gamification” in sports leagues on the broadcast side as federations
and clubs experiment with new camera angles, graphics or commentary “with the
aim of getting fans closer to the action and as opportunities for
monetisation.”
There were alternate views. Calling ISE "a
pivotal event" for the proAV industry Chris McIntyre Brown, MD,
Futuresource Consulting told IBC365 that he felt there was a muted presence of
AI at the show.
"It's a trend that was also noted at CES and BET. It
seems the industry is taking a step back to basics, focusing on using models to
guide customers on their AI journey. This approach is essential for ensuring
that AI solutions are practical and beneficial."
He called the convergence in broadcast and pro video a
notable trend, "driven by generational shifts and increased video usage in
enterprise spaces. The presence of more broadcast-based businesses at the show
highlights the opportunities this convergence presents for the industry."
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