Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly changing journalism. It's doing everything from research to checking facts, making news creative, and engaging. AI's impact on news is quite broad. It changes how stories are found, told, and shared with people. This piece looks at how AI changes the news world. It dives into why news and tech companies are working together more. It also talks about what this change means for the future of news and how people get information.
Key Takeaways
- AI is automating research, fact-checking, and routine news stories, enabling journalists to focus on more complex and investigative reporting.
- Adoption of AI-driven tools like ChatGPT is enhancing content quality, consistency, and personalization for news consumers.
- Data analysis and predictive capabilities of AI are uncovering hidden trends and patterns to inform news coverage.
- Reliance on tech companies' AI products and infrastructure is raising concerns about the news industry's autonomy and the potential for biases.
- The widespread use of AI in journalism could lead to job displacement and new ethical challenges that require careful consideration.
Motivations and Applications of AI in Newsrooms
News organizations are using AI more often. This is due to fast AI growth, challenges in the news business, and the push to stay ahead. Besides, the excitement and belief in AI have led newsrooms to check out how AI can help with making and sharing news.
Motives for Introducing AI
AI isn't a cure-all, but it can make things easier and boost performance in some areas. A study by the Partnership on AI looked at over 70 AI tools. They found five main types that could help journalists: tools to find stories, tools to create content, ways to connect with the audience, tools to share news, and tools for in-depth research. Newsrooms use these AI tools to work more efficiently, connect better with their readers, and find key insights in big data.
AI Applications in News Production and Distribution
AI changes how news gets made and shared. It helps with tasks like turning speech into text and understanding data. It also works on ways to make people pay for news and suggests news just for you. With AI, news teams can spot new story angles and trends. This can help improve their reporting. Plus, AI can create brief news articles without much human help. This can make producing news faster and more efficient.
But, using AI in newsrooms has some problems too. Making sure news is accurate and watching over AI's work is crucial. This is to avoid sharing wrong information. News outlets need to be smart about how they use AI. They must weigh the good sides of AI with the need to keep news trustworthy and true to their readers.
"AI has not proved to be a silver bullet in many cases, but it has provided efficiency and productivity gains in certain contexts, albeit with contextual constraints."
Reliance on Tech Companies for AI
News organizations depend more and more on AI from big tech firms like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. Since custom AI is very expensive, most publishers use AI from these companies. This choice is because of the costs and need for tech experts. But, it means tech companies have more power over news and information.
Over 2,200 publishers are part of the News Media Alliance. They say AI developers use news content more than random online stuff to teach AI chatbots, by a ratio of 5 to 100. Technology like ChatGPT has become very common since the end of last year. The Alliance is thinking about a plan. They want to collectively allow the use of their content by AI through legal agreements.
Using tech firms for AI raises big worries. Google and Facebook want a big part of the online advertising money. Their AI might rely on watching users closely. These actions could make these big tech companies even more powerful. That's not good news for freedom of the press and public discussions.
News outlets face big choices in the AI world. They have to find the right mix between using platform AI and keeping control over what they report. Getting this balance right will be a key task for them in the future.
AI in News: Impact on Journalism and the Public Arena
AI in news is changing the game, putting more power in tech companies' hands. This makes the news world worry about losing its independence and business models. About 71% of AI policy talks mention key journalistic values like serving the public, being objective, and acting fast. Most AI info is for the news team, but some is for everyone working there, including those in business roles. Almost 69% of this info warns about AI's risks, like misleading information.
AI could make it harder for news to stand out, with tech giants possibly getting even more control over news. For example, The Inventory Bot from G/O Media wrote 10 articles on December 14th. Gizmodo's entire team in Spanish got replaced by old translation software in August. After an AI-journalism problem, four top executives at Arena Group, including the CEO, were let go.
The move towards AI in news could focus too much on tech, potentially forgetting what's good for journalism and the audience. Experts have studied how AI impacts what people hear and see in news and other digital places. They say AI is all about making entities that act rightly, but for now, AI is mostly good for one simple task at a time.
How AI changes journalism and the public space depends on the choices news organizations make about using AI. A lot of the strategies for using AI plan for updates, but not all. Just over half warn journalists to be careful with AI to protect their sources from being exposed.
As AI's role in news grows, news groups need to watch how they use it. They must use AI in ways that help journalism and people the most. For example, CNET had to fix mistakes in over half of 77 articles AI wrote. Microsoft's MSN featured false news after having an AI-site. Gannett stopped using an AI writer when it started making big errors.
Conclusion
Looking at AI's impact on journalism, we see a tool for making news better, not changing news businesses entirely. AI is sure to change how news is made and sold. This change, however, will vary by task and situation, based on what drives and directs a news outlet.
With AI, the news and our democracy are going through big changes. News outlets will keep their key role as gatekeepers. And how this all turns out depends on the choices by news bosses, journalists, and tech companies alike. At first, people might not like AI being used in news. But they could get used to it as they see the benefits in real news stories.
As we head into an AI-driven news world, we must keep a careful mix. AI should help without losing out on human-like thinking, caring, and being ethical. The road ahead with AI in news is full of twists. But if we think ahead and focus on what's good for both news and the public, we will have smarter and more involved citizens ready for what's next.