THE BBC's director-general has said he would allow programmes to be presented by artificial intelligence (AI).
Matt Brittin, who succeeded Tim Davie in May, made the comments in an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.
The interview is set to be aired in full on Sunday, with a preview broadcast on BBC News at One on Friday.
When asked by Kuenssberg if he would allow a programme to be made and presented by AI, Brittin said: “I would do, within guardrails.
“We want to experiment with this technology and understand what it can and can’t do, but I’m here because I believe in human creativity.
“I don’t think anything we do should be replaced by AI. I think there are lots of places where AI can help us make the licence fee go further but also help us in our decision-making and creativity. But it’s not a substitute for humans.”
He also expressed concerns about a handful of tech companies having control of information in the future.
“We’re also in this moment where AI is in take-off,” he said. “I think there’s a danger that six companies will control access to information in future and the creation of information and misinformation.
“There’s a lot of platforms out there, so I wouldn’t trust any platform innately. I think what you do is you keep under review how those things work and whether your content can show up in the right place and fulfil its mission.”
He added: “I think the BBC and our apps and services should be the antidote to the algorithm. Everywhere else you go is driven by some commercial interest.”
During the interview, Brittin also addressed the BBC's financial situation.
The public broadcaster announced plans in June for savings across the news, nations and content divisions, which are set to deliver £160 million of £500m in savings needed by 2028/29.
Around 2000 jobs are expected to be axed as part of the process, with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) warning that the BBC risks becoming trapped in an “inescapable doom spiral” if it continues making cuts.
Brittin said both the BBC’s finances and changing audience habits “may well mean” some channels and radio stations will close to divert funding into on-demand services.
“If you see changes that we make in the future as we work out how best deal with this challenge, by the way hopefully with a new charter in 18 months’ time, we will be in a position where we can make longer term decisions about funding,” he said.
“We wouldn’t guarantee any programme or any channel will exist forever.
“The tight financial situation means that we are having to look at some of those decisions a bit sooner than we might like but, if most of an audience is getting things on demand, we have to look at the cost and the value of all of those different services.”
Brittin took over the top job at the national broadcaster in May.
The former Google executive is the first director-general since Greg Dyke in 2000 to take on the role without working at the BBC beforehand.
The BBC’s latest annual report detailed how the corporation’s financial outlook “deteriorated” in the second half of 2025.
The full interview with Kuenssberg will be broadcast at 9am on Sunday on on BBC One.
