Axel Springer SE, Europe’s largest publisher, has announced that it will replace various editorial tasks with artificial intelligence (AI). In an email sent to staff on Monday (June 19), Springer said, “I am sadly leaving my colleagues whose work will be superseded by AI and processes in the digital world. Editorial Director, Page editors, proofreaders, secretaries and photo editors will no longer exist as they do today.”
Staff cuts at Springer, home of news brands such as Built and die welt, raised concerns that AI could disrupt the global media industry. Using chatbots like ChatGPT to create news articles can make human journalists obsolete.
AI hacked humanity
“For the first time, machines themselves generate language,” said Langa Jogeswar, one of Germany’s leading independent science journalists. At his DW He global media forum in Bonn, Yogeshwar discussed how generative AI is transforming content creation. “Machines have hacked our culture, our civilization,” he said.
Reuters Institute Digital News Report declared 2023 to be “a breakthrough year for artificial intelligence and its application in journalism.” AI transcription tools are already in daily use in newsrooms, and he says that many companies also use AI transcription tools to select articles, create subtitles, and read text to users. says.
Some media companies are experimenting with virtual news anchors. And apps like Artifact already offer readers AI-generated summaries of online news articles.
AI Empowers Journalists
But some media analysts believe AI can take over the day-to-day business, freeing up journalists to focus on investigative reporting and in-depth analysis. “I think more and more media outlets will be able to outperform themselves,” said Naresh Christopher, South Asia correspondent for Rest of World, an online publication that reports on the impact of technology. ‘ said.
Speaking at DW’s Global Media Forum in Bonn, he cited the open-source research collective Watchdog Sri Lanka. As an example. “They are not a big organization with five or six editors, but they were able to feed long report articles into an open source machine learning system. It has a chat interface where you can ask questions: What happened to Sri Lanka since former President Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka? And that’s the future I want to see.”
He pointed out that only journalists can provide context for news stories. When it comes to creativity, critical thinking, and ethical judgment, humans are no match for AI. “Journalists will remain at the center,” Christopher said. “There is no replacement for us.”
AI creates fake news
“We have new tools that can speed up certain processes immediately,” agrees science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar. “AI gives us catalysts that generate far more content than humans.”
However, this content may be misleading or fake. “From now on, we will not be able to trust content. And this applies not only to current facts, but also to past facts. We can literally change history. And who can fact-check this?” Huh?” Yogeshwar argues that politicians should regulate AI before it shakes the pillars of society.
Many journalists hope that when people grow tired of AI-generated news, demand for unique stories researched and told by humans will rise. But even if this turns out to be true, thousands of editors, like those of German tabloid Bild, could already be out of work.
Editor: Lina Goldenberg
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