Some BBC channels and radio stations may well have to close, director general says

Brittin took over as BBC director general in May after a decade as president of Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Asked by Kuenssberg if he would allow a programme to be made and presented by AI, Brittin replied: "I would do, within guardrails."

He added: "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 warned of the danger of a handful of tech companies having too much control over information in the future.

"We're also in this moment where AI is in takeoff. So I think there's a danger that six companies will control access to information in future and the creation of information and misinformation," he said.

"Six companies, none of them European, let alone British. In that world, here's the BBC. It's the most trusted organisation by over half a billion people."

Asked if he trusted big tech companies he replied: "There's a lot of platforms out there, so I wouldn't trust any platform innately.

"And 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.

"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."

The full interview will be broadcast BBC One and iPlayer on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, on 27 September, at 09:00 BST.