ABSTRACT
‘The use of AI technology can help to automate news verification workflows, while significantly innovating journalism practices. However, most existing systems are designed in isolation without interactive collaboration with journalists. ‘DMINR’ project aims to bring humans-at-the-center of AI loop for developing a powerful tool that is sympathetic to the way journalists work. In this paper, we attempt to understand how AI can shape journalists’ practices and, crucially, be shaped by them; we aim to design human-centred AI tool that works in synergy with journalists’ practices and strike a useful balance between human and machine intelligence. In this paper, we conducted a Co-design workshop to inform the design of the ‘DMINR’ system. Based on the findings, we outline the main challenges for designing AI systems in the context of journalism, that can serve as a resource for Human-AI interaction design.’
How do journalists perceive artificial intelligence? Six UK researchers wanted to find out to help develop an AI tool that is ‘sympathetic to the way journalists work.’
Their study sample yielded three themes:
- Perception – There’s generally high awareness that several functions are possible yet there is little knowledge of how AI works
- Expectations – Belief in current capabilities may be overinflated
- Transparency – There is concern about the opacity of algorithms and how they derive conclusions, given journalistic needs for verification
The project is a collaboration between two groups at City, University of London: the Centre for HCI Design (HCI stands for
‘We attempt to understand how AI can shape journalistic practices and, crucially, be shaped by them’
AUTHORS
- Sondess Missaoui, Marisela Gutierrez-Lopez, Andrew MacFarlane, Stephann Makri – Centre for HCI Design, City, University of London
- Colin Porlezza, Glenda Cooper – Department of Journalism, City, University of London
Missaoui, S. et al (2019) ‘How to Blend Journalistic Expertise with Artificial Intelligence for Research and Verifying News Stories’ PDF online at https://cpb-ew2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.city.ac.uk/dist/f/2306/files/2019/02/Missaoui_etal-2aaaoau.pdf