For more than 130 years, the Financial Times has maintained the highest standards of journalism. As the editor of this newspaper, nothing is more important to me than the trust our readers have in the quality journalism we produce. Quality means accuracy above all else. It also means fairness and transparency.
That’s why today I’m sharing my current thoughts on the use of generative artificial intelligence in the newsroom.
Generative AI is the most important new technology since the advent of the internet. It is being developed at breakneck speed, and its applications and impact are still emerging. Generative AI models learn from vast amounts of public data such as books, publications, Wikipedia, and social media sites to predict the most likely next word in a sentence.
This innovation has become an increasingly important coverage area for us, and I am determined to make the FT a valuable source of information and analysis on AI over the next few years. But it also has potentially far-reaching implications for journalists and editors in the way we approach our day-to-day work, and can aid in article analysis and discovery. This can increase productivity and free up time for reporters and editors to focus on creating original content and reporting.
However, while they seem very clear and plausible, AI models on the market today are ultimately prediction engines, learning from the past. They can fabricate facts (which they call “hallucinations”) and fabricate references and links. AI models, when manipulated sufficiently, can produce images and articles that are completely false. It also reproduces existing social perspectives, including historical prejudices.
I am convinced that our mission to produce journalism of the highest standard is all the more important in an era of rapid technological innovation. At a time when misinformation can be generated and spread rapidly and trust in the media in general is waning, we at the FT have a huge responsibility to be transparent, report the facts and seek the truth. That’s why his FT journalism in the new AI era will continue to be covered and written by the best people in the field, and people dedicated to accurately and fairly reporting and analyzing the world as it is.
FT is also a pioneer in the digital journalism business, and our colleagues will leverage AI to serve our readers and customers and maintain a record of effective innovation. Our newsroom must also remain a hub of innovation. It is important and necessary for the FT to have a team in the newsroom that can responsibly experiment with AI tools to assist journalists with tasks such as data mining, text and image analysis, and translation. We will not publish AI-generated photorealistic images, but will consider using AI-enhanced visuals (infographics, diagrams, photos) and make them clear to our readers when we do. This does not affect FT artist illustrations. The team will also explore the summarization capabilities of generative AI, always under human oversight.
We are transparent within FT and with our readers. All experiments in the newsroom are recorded in our internal records, including wherever possible the use of third-party providers who may be using our tools. Training for journalists on using generative AI for story discovery is delivered through a series of masterclasses.
All technology opens up exciting new frontiers that need to be explored responsibly. But as recent history has shown, this excitement must be accompanied by vigilance against the dangers of misinformation and corruption of the truth. The FT will continue to work on its fundamental mission, keeping readers informed as generative AI itself and how we think about it evolves.
