Amazon’s Prime Video international chief has thrown her weight behind the power of artificial intelligence and its use in Prime Video content. Addressing the RTS London Convention, Kelly Day said the controversial tech “brings down costs meaning more stories can be made, more diverse voices can get heard and more creative risks get taken,” while “transforming the viewing experience on Prime Video.”
“That is not a threat to creativity, that is creativity unleashed,” she told a room packed full of the great-and-the-good of the British TV industry.
While Day stressed “we’re not looking for an AI model to write the next Fleabag,” she said it will allow the creator of the next big hit to “spend less time on admin and more time on creative decisions that make a show like that sing.”
Day echoed previous senior Amazon execs in backing AI. Amazon has an AI Studios division, led by Albert Cheng, which is currently being built out. Amazon MGM Studios recently dropped Luca Guadagnino’s movie Artificial, which tells of OpenAI and the company’s turbulent period in 2023 when founder Sam Altman was fired and rehired in a matter of days.
“The next generation of viewers is telling us they want more, not less,” added Day. “AI will help us get there faster. And the people who make some of the best television in the world are sitting in this room.”
Amazon is sponsoring the RTS Convention this year and Day revealed Prime Video quadrupled spend in UK TV, movies and live sport over the past five years.
Arguing that the UK TV industry should embrace change and build “for the customer,” Day said Prime Video spent £4B ($5.3B) since 2022 versus £1B the preceding five years, leading total spend to hit £5B since Prime Video moved into the territory a decade ago with Jeremy Clarkson’s motoring show The Grand Tour.