The future of journalism with a.i.

By Thomas South

In the past few years Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has affected almost every part of work. A.I. has had an especially great impact on writing. The future of journalism could be in jeopardy.

AI has largely gained a reputation for generating entire essays for students or employees, however, A.I. can affect writing in smaller ways too. 

Even as I write this article, Google’s A.I. suggests words to finish my sentences and anticipate what I'm trying to write in real-time. 

Other students may use AI to help gather and organize information before writing themselves. 

Due to the need for accuracy and truth in journalism, any amount of AI use could compromise the integrity and ethics of a publication.

The most concerning aspect of A.I. changing journalism is information collection. 

According to the U.S National Institute of Health, ChatGPT3 accuracy in a basic medical test ranged from 51% to 77% correct (in basic medical scenarios). While medical scenarios may not be a one-to-one comparison with writing, GPT3 should have been able to find correct answers from available online sources.

When reporting, information should be found and confirmed by reliable sources and interviews. Having a publication use AI to gather information could result in misleading or outright false Information.

The Washington Post says, “Websites hosting A.I.-created false articles have increased by more than 1,000 percent.” Many people, especially the elderly, could find these sites and be misled. 

In one case, an article even claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, had killed his psychiatrist. The piece even appeared on Iranian news causing defamation.

Some publications see A.I. as a saving grace that increases readership and revenue. In a report from the Columbia Journalism Review, a manager at a publication, said “How can I use these AI technologies to increase my audience, to increase my subscriber base, to increase the time that people are spending on the page and scrolling… That’s a motivation for us.”

Many publications now use A.I. to analyze audience trends and what readers want to see.

While it may seem beneficial at first, publications may begin to cater to what people want to see, not what people need to see. This change could result in important news being swept under the rug.

“Article recommendations … come from a tool of ours, which we then use.” Said one data scientist in a report from Columbia Journalism Review. 

Publications are also using A.I. algorithms to improve subscription rates. The algorithm decides how much free users can read before a paywall. 

A balance is important as too much or too little will disinterest readers to subscribe. 

Overall, most publications are using AI to promote and improve readership, and not to replace reporters. These changes may be small, but could still result in a loss of truth and integrity in journalism. “It's a question of whether AI will facilitate an increase in quality or quantity.”