The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is forcing a growing number of journalists to grapple with the ethical and editorial challenges posed by rapidly expanding technology. At the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, which ends on April 21, one of the questions asked is the role of AI in supporting or completely transforming newsrooms.
What will happen to employment?
AI tools that mimic human intelligence are widely used in newsrooms around the world to transcribe audio files, summarize text, and translate. In early 2023, Germany's Axel Springer Group announced job cuts at its factories. built and die welt The newspaper said AI could “replace” some journalists.
Generative AI, which can generate text and images in response to simple requests in everyday language, has been breaking new ground and raising concerns for the past year and a half. One problem is that we can now clone voices and faces to create podcasts and show news on TV. Last year, Filipino website Rappler launched a youth-oriented brand by converting long articles into comics, graphics, and even videos.
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Media professionals agree that their jobs must now focus on those that provide the greatest “value-add.” “You're the one doing the work, and the tools we create are your assistants,” Google News general manager Shailesh Prakash said at a festival in Perugia.
everything about money
Since ChatGPT debuted in late 2022, the cost of generative AI has plummeted and the tool, designed by US startup OpenAI, has become available to even small newsrooms. Colombian investigative journalism agency Cuestion Publica has developed a tool that allows it to use its engineers to comb its archives and find relevant background information when breaking news occurs.
“However, many media organizations have not created their own language models that are the core of their AI interfaces,” says Natali Herberger, a professor at the University of Amsterdam. “Safe and reliable technology requires them,” he stressed.
The threat of disinformation
According to Everypixel Journal's 2023 estimates, AI created as many images in one year as it created photos in 150 years. This raises serious questions about how news can be extracted from the tidal wave of content containing deepfakes.
Media and technology organizations are working together to tackle this threat, particularly through the Coalition for Content Origin and Authenticity, which aims to set common standards. “At the heart of our work is reporting and on-the-ground reporting,” said Sophie Fouette, recently appointed global news director for editorial innovation and artificial intelligence at AFP. “We're going to rely on human reporters for a while,” she added, but that may require the help of artificial intelligence.
From the Wild West to Regulation
Media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders has expanded its media rights brief to include defending trustworthy news, announcing the Paris Charter on AI and Journalism late last year. “One of the things I liked about the Paris Charter was the emphasis on transparency,” said Anya Shiffrin, a lecturer in global media, innovation and human rights at Columbia University in the US. “How much should publishers disclose if they are using generative AI?”
Ole Zachrisson, head of AI and news strategy at public broadcaster Swedish Radio, said there was a serious debate about whether AI content should be marked out or whether people should trust your brand.
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Regulation is still in its infancy in the face of ever-evolving technology. In March, the European Parliament adopted a framework law to regulate AI models without hindering innovation, while guidelines and charters are becoming increasingly common in news outlets. “At Quintillion Media in India, AI editorial guidelines are updated every three months,” said company boss Ritu Kapur. None of this organization's articles could be written by AI, and the images produced by AI cannot represent real life.
Will you resist or cooperate?
AI models feed data, but the hunger for critical goods is causing discomfort among providers. In December 2023, new york times It sued OpenAI and its major investor Microsoft for copyright infringement.In contrast, other media organizations have signed deals with his OpenAI: Axel Springer, American news agency AP, French daily newspaper Le Monde and Spanish group Prisa Media's titles include: el pais and as newspaper.
“Collaboration with new technologies is attractive because the media industry's resources are tight,” explains Emily Bell, a professor at Columbia University's School of Journalism. She feels there is increasing pressure from outside to “not miss the train.”
