Anxiety and excitement about artificial intelligence can be seen in almost every industry. Here at Local News, we are no exception.
This promise is easy to understand. Profit is best made at scale, but local news is nearly impossible to succeed at scale. You have to pay writers to attend community meetings, ask questions, check facts, and end up with hours of work per article.
The Richmond area is already making headlines for AI.
RICtoday’s parent company I was recently bragged about it in a trade magazine. His company achieved profitability by eliminating humans. The group currently sends out 400 newsletters a day that are created without human intervention.
Each newsletter costs “less than $1 per day,” the co-founders said.
Similarly, Axios has entered into a partnership with ChatGPT’s parent company. In the article they boasted The company’s AI tools were reportedly used to generate 43 different versions of the same chart for each Axios community’s local newsletter.
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Here at The Richmonder, we are not against progress. But we believe the core value of local news isn’t about the most stories or the most clicks, it’s about being present in the community and representing you and your concerns when decisions are made.
Our news team attends meetings, asks questions and participates in public discussions. We watch your taxes on the streets and in court.
And yes, that work costs money. That’s why we are a nonprofit organization and rely solely on community support to survive.
Last year, we spent 85% of our budget on the real people who create our work.
In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to discern what’s real, we’re building our identities around our teams. they are real. They are Richmonders. And they work for you every day.
michael phillips
founder
mphillips@richmonder.org
PS – We are working with industry standards groups to develop AI policies governing the use of technology in newsrooms. In an internal survey, all participants said they did not want news articles written by AI in the Richmonder. Donations are 100% tax deductible Support community activities to flourish. thank you!
