site.btaINSAIT Director Martin Vechev: AI Won’t Replace Humans Completely

AI will become more powerful and will increasingly enter modern media, but will not completely displace humans, said Prof. Martin Vechev, founder and scientific director of the INSAIT institute at the Sofia University.

He took part via videoconference in a panel on "New Knowledge in the Media", as part of the 20th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media, organized by BTA.

In his remarks Prof. Vechev stressed that the penetration of smart technologies is an irreversible process that is already changing the media environment.

"AI is the fastest growing technology in human history, with trillions of dollars of investment. It is a revolution in which Bulgaria is already actively participating, thanks to INSAIT - the first world-class institute in Southeastern Europe and one of the leading in Europe in general. This positions Bulgaria uniquely in the world," he said.

During his presentation Vechev demonstrated the use of BgGPT, the first Bulgarian language model, and its integration in the media industry.

"AI is already changing the way content is created, distributed and consumed. It can automatically generate news, moderate commentary, analyze data, create visualizations and even virtual presenters. We see it being used for content personalization, fact-checking, even facial and voice recognition in TV programmes," he commented.

Vechev stressed that with advances in AI come ethical challenges. For this reason, careful regulation and ethical use of AI in the media is necessary to ensure responsible application of the technology.

"There will always be a need for people with critical thinking skills to know how to manage, how to use and how to interpret the results, and to watch whether it makes obvious or less obvious mistakes," he noted.