Recap Summary
With the advent of generative systems, Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a field moving faster than any speaker can currently keep up to date with! For our latest event we were joined by Megan Stamper, Head of Data Science Product Group, at the BBC. Megan took us on a journey through NLP starting with a brief overview of the core technical underpinnings of current language modeling methods, reviewing their applicability (and risks) to content producers like the BBC, and showing how we can all ‘keep the heid’ amidst this latest hype cycle.
The discussion focused on 3 key areas:
Key takeaways from the session:
- Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a powerful tool for content discovery and personalisation, leveraging language understanding to enhance user experiences.
- The BBC uses NLP to tailor recommendations within its video and audio services, focusing on specific brands and modalities.
- Balancing personalisation and context awareness is crucial, considering factors like user location and activity to provide relevant content recommendations.
- NLP technologies like Chat GPT offer exciting capabilities but have limitations, such as relying on implicit signals and facing scalability challenges.
- Ethical considerations, including bias and privacy, must be addressed to ensure responsible and unbiased use of NLP technologies.
Guest Bios:
Megan Stamper - Head of Data Science, BBC Product Group
Megan Stamper is Head of Data Science for the BBC’s Product Group, where she leads a diverse team of data scientists working across the BBC’s products - think iPlayer, Sounds, News and Sport. The team works cross-functionally to deliver data and ML-driven products across a variety of problem spaces, including personalisation, content metadata, user retention modeling and account verification. From an academic background in mathematics, Megan’s data science career has been focused in the media industry, with roles at the FT and the BBC, where she’s built expertise in recommender systems and conversational AI.
Kris McFadyen - Head of Scottish Data Science, ML & Data Engineering Recruitment at MBN Solutions
Kris is an Associate Director at data science and technology recruitment company MBN Solutions. He has worked closely with the UK and Europe’s data markets and leaders for the past six years. He brings in-depth knowledge of the data market’s talent challenges and opportunities to AI Right?