Nearly every field of research around the world is being influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects. How AI will affect the field of journalism is still a mystery.
but, sky news has explored how AI may impact journalism in the future.
The experiment, which uses computers to research, write, and edit news, yielded results ranging from convincing stories about affordable housing to ludicrous claims that spilling milk is good for the environment. .
But with current technology reaching its limits, what about the future?
JournalismAI is a project at the London School of Economics run by Professor Charlie Beckett that supports the efforts of news organizations to responsibly use AI.
Since its launch in 2019, its purpose has never been clearer, as editors and reporters begin to understand the power of generative AI.
He said that while “a lot of news outlets are poring over what they can do with this technology,” everyone is aware of the pitfalls. It’s clear that artificial intelligence isn’t ready to replace real journalists, after CNET found errors in articles and hoax columns written by AI. Irish Times.
“If you make a small mistake, sky news“People are making fun of you, and it’s all on social media, and it’s very likely that AI will do that,” says Beckett. Getting worse. “
But just as smartphones and Google searches have revolutionized the way journalists work, AI seems destined to have a similarly significant impact.
Beckett predicts that AI will become the small newsroom that will replace interviews, scripts and online articles.
This creates a hybrid job that requires hybrid technical and editorial skills. This savings can be used to improve human journalism, enabling reporters to interview more people and produce more imaginative, empathetic and opinionated articles.
The future of the newsroom
The Center for Journalism at the University of Kent is looking to train future reporters for AI-powered newsrooms.
Professor Ian Reeves says that while AI has “reasonable and ethical uses in the newsroom”, it is “perfectly capable of spewing out complete nonsense with a straight face”.
“In some of the journalism assignments we give our students, we have noticed that they are trying to use this technology to distribute journalism content, and in some cases the results are quite funny,” he said. says.
“In One Piece, Sun Despite the newspaper and coverage of the event, the chatbot was unable to distinguish between the newspaper and the burning star in the sky.
”[So] We’re also trying to prove to them that the risks of relying on it to create sensible content are pretty high. ”
In what areas can AI help in journalism?
Professor Reeves also believes that the usefulness of generative AI lies in the basic journalistic task of interacting with real people, testifying, and holding them to account. People often turn to Google first when researching unfamiliar topics, but AI can’t do these basic tasks.
These skills will become even more important for journalists to survive in the AI age.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about trust and credit,” he says. “The best journalists, the journalists who make a difference, are the ones who tell people how things affect their real lives, who witness events. These are the people who have the skills to reveal what they know.” They don’t want to be revealed. ”
“That’s not something AI can do,” he added.
He also believes that AI will replace journalism jobs that lack these skills and are considered content farm jobs akin to journalism without dialogue. He said publishers could benefit from AI platforms rather than hiring people for these jobs.
“RoboCop Journalist”
Professor Reeves also shared that young people want newsroom content customized to their format, tone, style and platform. Reformatting and customizing your content, translating it into different languages, and providing a simplified or descriptive version are key areas for your success.
“My sort of sci-fi vision for this is like the journalist in RoboCop, with all the tools to enable you to be more efficient, stronger, and better researched, and then write the original article. It’s about creating content based on it, turning it into all kinds of iterations,” he said.
“And viewers are watching while eating breakfast at home sky newsthey can get into the car, which continues as a voice by choice of stories they are interested in,” he added.
“You come home from work in the evening and want to do a little longer reading, and it’s all semi-automatic and people have a Spotify-like ability to take what they get.” he continued.
