BBC is using AI to redesign its educational services

In celebration of 100 years since its first education broadcast, BBC announced a £6 million investment into BBC Bitesize, the BBC's online study support resource. One of the main goals for the Bitesize transformation is to make the platform more personalized and interactive for its users of all ages, making AI-powered tools like recommendation systems and customized testing ideal additions for the platform's next stage. A Bitesize revamp like this would also align perfectly with the BBC's posture on AI usage across its products as recently laid out by the BBC director general Tim Davie. While the broadcaster has ruled out the usage of AI in its journalism, Davie revealed that BBC planned to deploy AI in its terms and that it was already working with tech firms to develop ethical algorithms that enabled the broadcaster to build relevance while avoiding the deep polarization often driven by commercial algorithms focused in narrowing down recommendations for each user.

There may be an additional motivation to usher in new technologies better suited for the digital era. During the pandemic, BBC Bitesize provided an essential service for children who could not attend school and their families, by, among other things, launching Bitesize daily and producing over 200 hours of original programming with more than 2,000 lessons covering the UK school curriculum. During that time, Bitesize saw up to 3.8 million weekly users. However, even if the platform remains popular, it has also been struggling to attract younger audiences, experiencing a 5% decrease in its reach among 16 to 34-year-old audiences within a year, and finding that less than three-quarters of those under 16 years old use BBC services in an average week. Considering this, a transformation fit for the digital era may be what Bitesize needs to connect with younger audiences.