Speaker 1: Since you're a subscriber to this Bloomberg podcast, we thought
Speaker 1: you'd be interested in a new four episode sponsored podcast
Speaker 1: called The ROI Rules of AI. Produced by IBM and
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Media Studios. It explores how business leaders are thinking
Speaker 1: about the return on investment of artificial intelligence projects. You
Speaker 1: can subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Here's
Speaker 1: a recent episode. It's the first Sunday in February and
Speaker 1: a Los Angeles arena is packed from music's biggest night,
Speaker 1: the Grammy Awards. Millions of fans worldwide are tuning in
Speaker 1: to see which of almost nine hundred artists will bring
Speaker 1: home the Golden Gramophones in close to one hundred categories.
Speaker 1: But as the show's you've only had three months since
Speaker 1: the nominations were announced. To promote the best of music
Speaker 1: this year across every genre and on every conceivable digital platform,
Speaker 1: the National Academy of Recording, Arts and Sciences faces that
Speaker 1: challenge every year.
Speaker 2: Attention is in short supply, but we depend on that
Speaker 2: as an organization, not just for the awards, but ultimately
Speaker 2: for all the other activities that we're doing that are
Speaker 2: there to celebrate. An advocate for creators, capturing audiences is
Speaker 2: an important challenge that any organization has.
Speaker 1: That's panos A Pina, President of the Recording Academy. To
Speaker 1: address that challenge, the Academy partnered with IBM to create
Speaker 1: an AI powered content engine that could quickly create social
Speaker 1: content and insights about every Grammy nominee during the Compressed
Speaker 1: Awards season from IBM and Bloomberg Media Studios. This is
Speaker 1: the ROI Rules of AI and I'm your host Edward Adams.
Speaker 1: On this podcast, we're exploring how organizations of all sizes
Speaker 1: are using AI to remake their operations, increasing their return
Speaker 1: on investment and that of their customers. Penay graduated from
Speaker 1: Boston's prestigious Berkeley College and Music with a degree in
Speaker 1: Music Business Management, and later served as the institution's senior
Speaker 1: vice president of Global Strategy and Innovation, overseeing its campuses
Speaker 1: in New York City, Valencia, Spain, and Abu Dhabi. He's
Speaker 1: also an amateur guitarist and trombonist. The nonprofit Recording Academy
Speaker 1: is composed of twenty two thousand members, not just performers,
Speaker 1: but songwriters, arrangers, engineers, producers, and everyone else in the
Speaker 1: music creative community. It advocates on public policy issues affecting music,
Speaker 1: undertakes educational activities, and supports musicians in need through its
Speaker 1: Music Cares philanthropy. But it's best known for celebrating excellence
Speaker 1: at the annual Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy has a
Speaker 1: five person editorial team, but their need for content about
Speaker 1: Grammy nominees outstrips their ability to create it during the
Speaker 1: busy Awards season. Having worked with IBM on a variety
Speaker 1: of projects stretching back almost a decade, the Academy saw
Speaker 1: this as an opportunity to use IBM's what'sonex technology as
Speaker 1: a force multiplier.
Speaker 2: I've always seen technology as a great amplifier of human creativity,
Speaker 2: so in collaborating with Watson X, we've been looking to
Speaker 2: amplify the capabilities of our own editorial team. From our standpoint,
Speaker 2: every nominee, every genre, irrespective of whether it's popular or not,
Speaker 2: deserves its.
Speaker 3: Own moment in the sun, its own celebration.
Speaker 2: This is where our collaboration with Watson X can be
Speaker 2: extremely transformational in our ability to celebrate not only a handful,
Speaker 2: but every single one of our nominees.
Speaker 1: IBM in the Recording Academy began the two month project
Speaker 1: using large language models and then infused them with all
Speaker 1: the content and data the Academy had created over the
Speaker 1: years about nominees. That also changed the role of the
Speaker 1: Academy's editorial team from that of reporters and writers to
Speaker 1: becoming editors who checked every piece of content created for
Speaker 1: accuracy and the Grammys brand voice.
Speaker 2: Our people and they're absolutely hands on. It's always great
Speaker 2: to have a human editor taking a look.
Speaker 1: Content range from artists insights to enhance the Grammy livestream
Speaker 1: viewing experience, to social assets about various award categories and nominees.
Speaker 2: We generated over four million impressions across our social channels
Speaker 2: and over one million views on live dot Grammy dot
Speaker 2: com during our live stream.
Speaker 1: The project delivered the Recording Academy's most valuable commodity, the
Speaker 1: attention of music fans.
Speaker 2: Says Peney, the single most important currency today is attention
Speaker 2: and ultimately all of us. Whether your corporation that's selling
Speaker 2: a widget or whether you are an organization like the
Speaker 2: Recording Academy, the intelligent creation of content is a megaphone
Speaker 2: for your activities.
Speaker 1: The Recording Academy had set itself up for success in
Speaker 1: two ways before ever undertaking the Content Engine project. According
Speaker 1: to Brian Fallon, vice president of Data, AI and Automation
Speaker 1: for the US National Market at IBM.
Speaker 4: One, they were maniacally focused on the quality of their data. Right,
Speaker 4: That's the basis of everything, because what you're going to
Speaker 4: put into this is what you're going to get out
Speaker 4: at the end. And they already had done that in
Speaker 4: a meticulous fashion. Two, they had set a policy for
Speaker 4: how they were going to use AI. I would encourage
Speaker 4: every company to do this. We've done it inside IBM.
Speaker 4: You've got to understand what your guide rails are so
Speaker 4: that you know what you can solve with the technology
Speaker 4: versus what you're going to require humans to do.
Speaker 1: AI has the ability to unlock value from existing data
Speaker 1: that is in a variety of formats.
Speaker 4: Falon says the data challenges that the Academy face was
Speaker 4: not much different than other organizations. It's multimodal in terms
Speaker 4: of not just binary data. It's videos, it's locked in PDFs,
Speaker 4: presentations across many forms.
Speaker 3: How do you unlock that and unleash.
Speaker 4: The power of that data to your internal constituents and
Speaker 4: your external clients? That's really what we were able to
Speaker 4: do with this project.
Speaker 1: Writing content about Grammy nominees is one of.
Speaker 4: Those moments that matter, Moments that are highly repetitive but
Speaker 4: manual in nature, and frankly, ones that your internal and
Speaker 4: external clients complain about. Those typically are the use cases
Speaker 4: where we want to start and then we work backwards
Speaker 4: to utilize the data both known and unknown internal to
Speaker 4: the organization and perhaps externally available to help go solve
Speaker 4: those challenges. Leveraging the power of generative AI and automation.
Speaker 1: For the Recording Academy, the return on investment in their
Speaker 1: AI powered content engine ultimately wasn't just a means to
Speaker 1: create a lot of content, but a means to communicate
Speaker 1: with its audience on an emotional level. Panay says it
Speaker 1: gave music fans a little taste of what he experiences
Speaker 1: every year behind the scenes at the awards ceremony.
Speaker 2: In terms of being in the room during the Grammys,
Speaker 2: it's one of the most amazing experiences, frankly, you'll ever have.
Speaker 3: I've been in the music industry for thirty years.
Speaker 2: There's not been a Grammy Night that I've attended that.
Speaker 3: Didn't blow me away.
Speaker 2: Even sometimes among the most celebrated stars getting a Grammy
Speaker 2: and what it means to them.
Speaker 3: It's really touching on your obituary.
Speaker 2: If you want a Grammy, it will be likely either
Speaker 2: in the title or in the first line.
Speaker 3: So being in the room when somebody's.
Speaker 2: Life truly changes, that specialness doesn't go away. Ultimately, music
Speaker 2: is an emotional thing and for us, connecting with audiences
Speaker 2: around that is extremely important. The program with Watson X
Speaker 2: and the Recording Academy captures everything we want to be
Speaker 2: and the stories we want to develop. As a means
Speaker 2: of creating that emotional engagement.
Speaker 1: This has been the ROI Rules of AI, a podcast
Speaker 1: from IBM and Bloomberg Media Studios. If you like what
Speaker 1: you hear, subscribe and leave us a review. I'm Edward Adams.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.