There’s a question being asked inside television companies everywhere right now: What can we automate?

Fair question. AI is moving incredibly fast, and local television would be foolish to ignore it. Broadcasters are already using AI and automation to streamline workflows, repurpose content, create clips, generate captions, analyze information and distribute content across multiple platforms. Gray Media’s newer streaming platform incorporates Google Cloud AI across its station footprint. Companies like Amagi are developing technology that can take live news and turn it into social clips, vertical video and other digital content automatically.

This isn’t five years away. It’s happening now.

But the more I watch it, and the more conversations I have with people in this business, the more I think we may be asking the wrong question. Instead of constantly asking what we can automate, maybe somebody in the room needs to start asking what we shouldn’t automate.

That may end up being a much bigger leadership skill than we realize.

I’ve spent more than 15 years recruiting in media, first on the corporate side and now through Carver Talent. I’ve watched what companies look for in leaders change quite a bit during that time. Digital changed it. Streaming changed it. Consolidation changed it. Now AI is going to change it again, probably faster than any of those.

Media leaders absolutely need to understand AI. I’m not suggesting otherwise. If you’re sitting in a leadership position saying, “I’ve done this successfully for 20 years and I don’t need to learn that stuff,” good luck. I don’t think that’s going to work much longer.

There are processes inside television stations that should be automated. There are repetitive tasks being done by talented, expensive people that make absolutely no sense anymore. If AI can eliminate three hours of mindless work every week and allow somebody to spend those three hours selling, reporting, coaching or creating something better, great. Use it.

But let’s not get carried away.

Because somewhere between eliminating unnecessary work and eliminating people, there’s a pretty important line. And I’m not convinced every media company is going to know exactly where that line is.

Think about what local television has always sold. The word is right there: local.

Local reporters who know the community. Salespeople who have relationships with advertisers. News directors who understand why a story that means absolutely nothing nationally is a huge deal in their market. General managers who know the business community. Employees who have spent years developing sources, relationships and credibility.

At what point does becoming more efficient start making a local television station less local?

That’s the part of the AI conversation that interests me.

If technology can take one piece of content and format it for five different platforms, use it. If it can help somebody research faster, identify information or eliminate administrative work that nobody wants to do anyway, great.

But a sales manager sitting down and coaching an AE isn’t inefficient. A reporter spending years developing sources isn’t inefficient. A salesperson spending 45 minutes talking with a local business owner when a five-minute email technically could have accomplished the immediate task isn’t necessarily inefficient either. Neither is a GM walking around the building talking with employees instead of sitting behind a desk staring at another dashboard.

Try putting those things into an efficiency model.

They’re difficult to quantify. They’re also how relationships get built.

And this business still runs on relationships.

That’s why I think this becomes a recruiting issue sooner than people realize.

I can absolutely see hiring managers asking candidates, “How are you using AI?” Or, “What have you automated in your current operation?” They should ask those questions. And if you’re a candidate interviewing for a leadership job in media, you should probably have a good answer.

But I’d ask one more.

What did you decide NOT to automate, and why?

I’d really want to hear that answer.

Anyone can walk into a meeting right now and say, “We need to use more AI.” That’s not exactly a groundbreaking position in 2026. The harder part is figuring out where AI actually makes the business better and where you’re simply removing human interaction because somebody showed you a spreadsheet with an efficiency number on it.

There’s also something else happening here that executives shouldn’t overlook. Employees are watching all of this very closely.

When an executive says AI, automation, efficiency and scalability, he or she may be thinking about margins, productivity and better workflows.

A 20-year employee sitting across the table may be hearing: Are you trying to figure out how to replace me?

That’s real.

It doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t automate. They have to. The economics of this business aren’t exactly getting easier. But how leaders communicate these changes, and how they decide where technology belongs, is going to matter.

I’ve written quite a bit about recruiting, retention and culture because I see the results of all three every day. I think AI is about to become part of that conversation in a much bigger way. The companies that can explain how they’re using it, why they’re using it and where they still believe people matter are going to have an advantage recruiting good talent.

The companies whose AI strategy appears to be “how many people can we eliminate?” may discover something else.

That’s not much of an AI strategy.

It’s a headcount strategy.

And employees can tell the difference.

Here’s what I find really interesting about all of this. The more technology we put into local television, the more valuable some pretty old-fashioned skills may become.

Judgment. Leadership. Curiosity. Creativity. Coaching. Relationship building. Knowing your community. Being able to read a room. Knowing when the spreadsheet isn’t telling you the whole story.

I’ve recruited a lot of people over the years. I’ve never had a hiring manager call me and say, “Ty, find me somebody with questionable judgment, but make damn sure they’re great with software.”

Technology changes. Platforms change. Buzzwords definitely change. I’ve been around this industry long enough to watch plenty of them come and go.

Good judgment travels.

For the record, I’m not anti-AI. Not even close. I use it. I think there are enormous opportunities here, and I think media leaders who choose to ignore it are making a serious mistake.

What concerns me is something different.

Local television is under enormous financial pressure. When you’re under that kind of pressure, efficiency becomes incredibly attractive. Sometimes it has to. But “AI can do this” and “AI should do this” are not the same statement.

We might want to remember that.

Local broadcasters have spent years talking about what separates them from national media, social platforms, streaming services and everyone else competing for the viewer’s attention and the advertiser’s dollar.

The answer usually comes back to some version of the same thing.

We’re local.

Then let’s make damn sure we don’t automate that away.

The most valuable leader in local television five years from now may not be the person who figured out how to automate everything possible.

It may be the person who knew where to stop.

So the next time somebody sitting around a conference table says, “AI can do that,” maybe the smartest person in the room will be the one who asks:

Sure. But should it?

About Carver Talent

Carver Talent specializes in recruiting high-impact leaders across local television, digital media, revenue leadership, news management, and broadcast operations nationwide.

We understand this industry because we live in it every day.

And in a media landscape evolving this quickly, strategic talent decisions matter more than ever.

Ty Carver has over 30+ years of recruiting, HR management, sales, and leadership experience…including the last 15 specific to the broadcast media industry. He is the Founder/CEO of Carver Talent, a local broadcast media management recruiting firm. As the former Head of Recruiting for Raycom Media, he has deep industry relationships. Have a media corporate executive/management or television station management recruiting need? Contact ty@carvertalent.com for more information.