BBC director-general Matt Brittin has said artificial intelligence (AI) is not going to replace human creators, despite recently watching a “pretty good” AI-generated episode of Doctor Who.
Speaking at the Royal Television Society’s London convention 2026, Brittin said: “Everyone’s got the ability in their hands, or six billion people have, to create content at the standard of a Hollywood studio.
“In some cases, it’s not perfect, but look at what you can do. That’s changing all the time.
“Somebody sent me a 50-minute episode of Doctor Who that was AI-generated the other day. It’s pretty good.
“I mean, it’s not going to replace humans. So, everyone’s a creator.”
Funding and job cuts at the BBC
It comes after Brittin said on Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg that he would allow AI to present future programmes “within guardrails” and that the corporation wants to “experiment with this technology”.
The BBC announced plans in June for savings across the news, nations and content divisions which are set to deliver £160 million of £500 million in savings needed by 2028/29. Around 2,000 jobs are expected to be cut as part of the process.
Brittin addressed the corporation’s financial difficulties, saying: “The money runs out at the end of next year unless we have a new charter, and obviously the way that the funding of the BBC through the licence fee is going means that it’s a flush.
“We need a new mechanism if we’re going to have the sort of scale of service media that we’ve had in the past. So, that’s all contributing to the jeopardy.”
The corporation most recently announced 41 job losses at BBC Sport.
Gradual announcement of cuts
Brittin was asked by interviewer Kirsty Young why the BBC had chosen to announce its cuts gradually, rather than all at once.
He said: “Firstly, all of those changes involve people and their lives.
“I’m having conversations with people whose jobs are at risk on a daily basis. I’ve explained in detail why we’re in this position.
“It’s the same reasons that everyone is having to do the consolidation.”
He added: “I think the right principle is to tell people as soon as you can if there’s something coming to them and manage that in the best way you can for all people in their lives.
“So, our approach has been, as we’re ready to kind of propose changes, to tell people, and that’s painful. But we can’t do any faster than we’re ready to do.”
Brittin’s outlook and background
Amid rapid technological change, Brittin remained positive in his long-term outlook and said he wants the BBC to “bring people together”.
Brittin took over the top job at the national broadcaster in May. The former Google executive, who succeeded Tim Davie, is the first director-general since Greg Dyke in 2000 to take on the role without working at the BBC beforehand.
Addressing his lack of experience in broadcasting, he said: “Obviously, I’ve got some experience in running very large, complicated organisations. That’s quite unusual among directors-general.
“You usually come up from within it, or you run a smaller organisation, but some experience of technology and the pace of changing how that’s changing behaviour, some experience of regulation and so on.
“And, you know, I’ve got a love for the BBC, having grown up with it.”
The BBC’s latest annual report detailed how the corporation’s financial outlook “deteriorated” in the second half of 2025.
