How the AI ​​’revolution’ is shaking up journalism

Last year, journalists happily asked the shiny new AI chatbot ChatGPT to write their columns, most of which concluded that the bot wasn’t good enough for their job. Not yet.

However, many commentators believe journalism is at the cusp of a revolution in which mastery of AI algorithms and tools for content creation will be an important battleground.

Tech news website CNET perhaps heralded the way forward when it quietly rolled out an AI program last year to write some of its articles.

It was then forced to issue some corrections after another news site noticed that the bot had made a mistake, some fatal.

But CNET’s parent company later announced job cuts that included Editor—although executives deny AI is behind the layoffs.

German publishing giant Axel Springer, owner of Politico and German tabloid Bild among other titles, was less timid.

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to make independent journalism better than ever — or simply replace it,” team boss Mathias Doepfner told employees last month.

Praising bots like ChatGPT as a “revolution” for the industry, he claimed the restructuring would see “significant cuts” in production and proofreading.

Both companies are promoting AI as one tool support journalistand can point to recent developments in the industry.

‘Glorified word processor’

In the century, media organization have increasingly used automation for routine tasks such as finding patterns in economic data or corporate reporting.

Stores with an online presence have become obsessed with “Search engine optimization“, which involves using keywords in the headline to be preferred by the Google or Facebook algorithms and the most viewed story.

And some have developed their own algorithms to see which stories are most relevant to their audiences and allow them to better target content and advertising—the same tools that have made Google and Facebook into global giants.

Alex Connock, author of “Media Management and Artificial Intelligence,” says mastering these AI tools will help decide which media companies survive and which fail in the years to come.

Using content creation tools will put some people out of work, he said, but not in the analytical or high-profile reporting arena.

“In the specific case of more mechanical journalism—sports reports, financial results—I really think AI tools are replacing and potentially increasingly replacing operations,” he said. human delivery”.

Not all analysts agree on that point.

For example, Mike Wooldridge of the University of Oxford thinks that ChatGPT is like a “glorified word processor” and journalists shouldn’t worry.

“This technology will replace journalists in the same way that spreadsheets have replaced mathematicians – in other words, I don’t think it will,” he said at a recent event hosted by the Center for Communication and Communication. through Organizational Science.

However, he does suggest that mundane jobs can be substituted — bringing him to Connock’s perspective.

‘Check the robot’

French journalists Jean Rognetta and Maurice de Rambuteau are digging deeper into the question of how ready AI is to take over journalists.

They publish a newsletter called “Qant” written and illustrated with AI tools.

Last month, they presented a 250-page report written by AI detailing the key trends of the CES tech show in Las Vegas.

Rognetta said they want to “test the robots, push them to the limit”.

They quickly found the limit.

The AI ​​struggled to identify key trends at CES and was unable to produce a summary worthy of a journalist. It also steals wholesale from Wikipedia.

The authors recognize that they need to intervene continuously to keep the process on track, so while the programs save time, they are not yet suitable as a substitute for real journalists.

Journalists are “affected by the syndrome of great technological substitution, but I don’t believe it,” Rognetta said.

“Robots are simply not capable of producing articles. There is still a part of journalism that cannot be delegated.”

© 2023 AFP