Li Yun, Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Shanghai Media Group: Embracing AI is a crucial question for the development of the media.

“Embracing AI is not an optional question, nor is it an additional question that adds value; it is a mandatory question concerning the development of media.” On December 19, the 2024 China Newspaper and Media Industry Artificial Intelligence Application Conference was held in Shanghai. Li Yun, Party Secretary and President of Shanghai Newspaper Group, delivered a keynote speech, sharing the exploratory practices of the group amidst the wave of media integration reform in the context of artificial intelligence.

Li Yun announced that on November 11, Shanghai Newspaper Group launched a new round of reforms. “This round of reform is an active transformation occurring amid disruptive waves, adapting to and leveraging new technologies, which is crucial for achieving proactive change, mastering change, and leading change.” She shared her insights on this reform from three perspectives.

The first is “Change in Concept: A Mandatory Question for Media’s Existence.” Li Yun pointed out that the integration of cultural media and technology has become a consensus and vision within Shanghai Newspaper Group. “We propose to ‘be the media group that understands technology best,’ aiming to empower each other through the synergy of cultural media and technology.”

In her view, AI is an essential force driving the release of content productivity, and the fundamental purpose of AI empowerment is to “be used for our benefit.” Furthermore, the key to AI application lies in taking the first step: only by asking questions to AI and collaborating with it can one truly overcome psychological panic. It is also necessary to accept AI’s “imperfections,” utilize it, and grow together with it, which are the basic rules for applying and mastering AI.

The second is “Change in Practice: Comprehensive Exploration of New Quality Content Production.” Li Yun stated that in recent years, Shanghai Newspaper Group has promoted digitalization and intelligent transformation through a series of pragmatic measures, reshaping the production mechanism in a comprehensive and multidimensional way to build new quality productivity for mainstream media. The group has intensively developed an “Integrated Media Innovation Space” and an “AI Digital Human Integrated Media Creation Platform” to stimulate the media to unleash advanced productivity while achieving lightweight, low-cost, and efficient production methods. Additionally, the group has independently developed media vertical models and exclusive algorithms. Five algorithms under the group, including “Derived Everything AI Office Algorithm,” “Pengpai Smart Media Music Model Algorithm,” “Pengpai Smart Media AI Poster Algorithm,” “Derived Everything Communication Model Algorithm,” and the “Finance Leap Model” launched by Jiemian Financial News, have obtained “Deep Synthesis Service Algorithm Registration,” guiding “algorithms” with mainstream value orientation and creating a safe and controllable technical foundation.

The third is “Change in the Future: Forward-looking Layout in New Fields, New Tracks, and New Mechanisms.” Li Yun emphasized that mainstream media must maintain a high degree of technical sensitivity, strengthen forward-looking and leading layouts, take small steps quickly, and continue to invest to solidify the foundation for gaining the initiative and dominance in future communication. In the future, the Shanghai Newspaper Group will accelerate the iterative development of integrated technology, positioning itself in future communication channels like smart cars, smart wearables, and smart homes. At the same time, it will strive to expedite the realization of a commercial closed loop for application scenarios, cultivate data assets, and train new compound talents of quality. “In the next 20 years, the tremendous changes brought by AI will exceed everyone’s imagination, but what truly determines the outcome is what we can do today to contribute valuable actions for the upcoming era.”