Discussing the risks of using artificial intelligence (AI) technology in journalism and media is urgent and necessary for a profession with established traditions and standards. It is also an important discussion as journalists have a responsibility to advance and facilitate public awareness and disseminate information based on the right to knowledge. Therefore, it is essential to remain vigilant without, nonetheless, overlooking the opportunities that AI provides in newsrooms—provided that professional standards are adhered to and its integration into daily work is carefully managed.
A Set of Useful Tools
AI is meant to assist rather than replace humans in journalism and media. The tools it offers include fact-checking and verifying information, images, and visual content; software for reading recommendations and user experience; systems for analyzing content published on social media platforms; applications for linguistic analysis and text translation; data collection and analysis in data journalism; notification services for content creation and publishing; some traditional news-gathering processes; Google tools for visual storytelling; and applications for processing and editing audio, images, and video.
The Uses of AI in the Industry
A May 2023 survey by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) among 101 industry experts (journalists, editors-in-chief etc.) found that about 49% of news publishers are utilizing generative AI tools (Gen AI), despite their recent availability. A main concern about Gen AI however, which is used to is used to create and generate content, whether textual, audio (voice and music), or visual (video, images, and designs), is “content quality.” Furthermore, despite the rapid adoption of these tools, the results confirmed that 80% of newsrooms lack a guiding framework for using next-generation AI tools. Regarding the uses in journalism, the survey revealed the following percentages:
Thus, more than half of the newsrooms surveyed use generative AI tools like ChatGPT to produce texts, summaries, and bullet points. This is followed by research and studies, then workflow and efficiency, text correction, article content generation, topic ideation, translation, and finally, user interaction and content personalization.
Dean Roper, WAN-IFRA’s director of insights, said the results “reveal an industry ready to plow forward with experimentation, aware of the tools’ potential, while at the same well aware of the challenges and concerns involved.” Teemu Henriksson, Research Editor at WAN-IFRA, noted: “overall, the attitude about Generative AI in the industry is overwhelmingly positive: 70% of survey participants said they expect Generative AI tools to be helpful for their journalists and newsrooms.”
An Imperfect Technology
However, the survey revealed that inaccuracies and quality of AI-generated content is a concern for 85% of the surveyed newsrooms. Thus, Henriksson states that “it might not be surprising that inaccuracy of information/quality of content is the number one concern among publishers when it comes to AI generated content.” When utilizing generative AI tools, it is therefore imperative to rely on the rational and critical spirit of journalistic work and established professional standards so that we master the machine rather than the other way around.
Below are some tools that can be used in journalistic work (and beyond), as outlined in the paper "100 Practical Applications and Use Cases of Generative AI" by the UAE Ministry of Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications:
Speaking at the opening session of the 24th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), Mark Lavalee, Director of Technology Products and Journalism Program Strategy at the Knight Foundation stated that journalists can use these tools as a kind of ‘co-pilot.’ “The creators of these tools don’t know all the ways they can be useful so we are in this period of massive co-discovery. We get to figure out how they’re useful to us.”
“The best thing for any individual to do […] is really slicing [between the] skills worth continuing to develop and things that are skills worth finding ways to delegate,” Lavallee added.
As AI continues to evolve daily, media institutions are striving to find clear solutions to reconcile the demands of professional rigor with the capabilities of technology. This can be achieved by developing a clear strategy that aligns with professional needs while entering \the era of AI technology with foresight and a clear vision, thus ensuring that newsrooms reap the benefits rather than merely boasting about integrating new technologies as if they were a trend to be followed at any cost.
