Is the BBC really for ordinary UK citizens or a US Big Tech collaborator?

On November 6 2025 i wrote this email to BBC Radio 4 Feedback

Dear Feedback,

Why do the Today and PM programmes mention the commercial product chatGPT so often? And regularly promote chatGPT’s latest multiple new products? It almost feels as if the BBC Radio 4 is the advertising arm for openAI and Microsoft rather than democratically informing and educating listeners, as an independent non commercial  broadcasting service for UK citizens.

Talking with Sarah Montague on the World At One about the AI bubble, Evan Davis has said the ‘optimism bias’ on AI is ‘just capitalism’ but when does  ‘optimism bias’ step over into commercial advertising or even potentially fraud? 

I feel the Radio 4  listener is being coerced or FOMO’ed into getting chatGPT even though the multiple harms of chatbots and LLMs (environmental, mental health, atrophy of cognitive abilities, privacy issues, outsourcing critical thinking and imagination, pressure on local water and energy utilities leading to rising cost of living etc) are well documented by experts. The BBC is failing to inform citizens on these multiple harms. Is the BBC in AI groupthink mode? 

Yours sincerely

Rosalind Readhead

Over the last month or two we have also seen a very cosy relationship developing between Google and the BBC. BBC News sometimes presents new Google products as news items, seemingly reading out the press release without context, critical evaluation or human oversight…or their Tech Editor Zoe Kleinman presents new Google products like Doppl by Google: Try On Clothes Virtually with AI-Powered Fashion App on her ‘personal’ linkedin profile which describes itself as BBC Tech editor. Apparently no conflict of interest??

 The new partnership will also see the BBC and YouTube support the government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan by investing in “the next generation of creators” across the country. – BBC

Meanwhile damning documents from Google and YouTube also show their business plans for education

Google’s growing presence in schools — through Chromebooks as well as its learning platforms and YouTube — helped the company build a “Pipeline of future users” – Internal Google Document

Building a dependency on their US Big Tech AI and media products seems to align the British Broadcasting Company with the United States Big Tech Corporations like Google; Google is integrated into the Trump US Administration and the US Military. National Security risk anyone?