Category: AI in the newsroom

“OpenAI’s progress has, within just a few months, landed the technology industry in one of its most unpredictable moments in decades. Many industry leaders believe developments in A.I. represent a fundamental technological shift, as important as the creation of web browsers…

“It may seem counterintuitive for a publication like Wired to have a policy of mostly not using AI,” Lichfield told me. “But I think people appreciate both the transparency and the attempt to define clear standards that emphasize what quality journalism is…

 “Over at The Verge, staff are ‘on guard,’ editor Nilay Patel tells me, while noting that this isn’t the first time newsrooms have geared up for a deluge of deepfakes. ‘What our newsroom took away from 2020 was that the…

“(Generating story ideas) may save some time and we will keep exploring how this can be useful. But some limited testing we’ve done has shown that it can also produce false leads or boring ideas.” Gideon Lichfield WIRED defines more…

The Associated Press was amongst the earliest users of Ai in journalism and convened this panel to consider the impact of generative models on journalistic practices. Moderated by the AP’s Aimee Rhinhart, the panellists are: New York & online |…

“Understanding this change is essential to a publishing house’s future viability. . . Only those who create the best original content will survive.” Mathias Doepfner THE GUARDIAN reports on an internal memo to employees at Axel Springer, the German-based publisher,…

“The job is to break news and dive deep into how AI technologies work, how they’ll be applied across industries, and the ripple effects on business and society.“ Madhumita Murgia  “First-first” AI editor Madhumita Murgia describes how she’ll examine AI impacts…

“Reach plc has formed a working group to determine the extent to which chatbots, programmes that allow robots to hold direct online conversations with humans, could help in aiding reporters covering topics such as weather and traffic reports.“ David Sharman, HTFP….

“. . . complaining that they’re bad at journalism is like being angry at Excel because it doesn’t draw pictures well.” Gina Chua Augmented journalism pioneer Gina Chua suggests the most significant use for current large language models (LLMs) is…

“Impress’ guidance on the Standards Code’s accuracy requirements now says publishers need to “be aware of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and other technology to create and circulate false content (for example, deepfakes), and exercise human editorial oversight to…

“In virtually all cases additional work is needed to evaluate the quality of output for the tasks. In general, I would not recommend using ChatGPT for these tasks without a strict and close editorial process for fact-checking outputs before anything is…

“Some more complex AI models like neural networks can be notorious for the “black box” ways in which they work: it’s hard to decipher how they reach the conclusions they do based on vast datasets. That’s why experts are now…

“. . . Google sends a lot of traffic to news sites — more than any other external source by far. Newsrooms spend time and money figuring out a lot of those answers, and the reward they’ve traditionally reaped for them…

“. . . in just a few hours, anyone with minimal coding ability and an ax to grind could launch networks of false local news sites — with plausible-but-fake news items, staff and editorial policies — using ChatGPT.“ Alex Mahadevan…

“As long as you are clear on what it can and cannot do, the tool can help you out with some menial tasks so you can focus on the stories that matter to your audience.“ Marcela Hunova Use cases are…

“We have no idea how its creator, OpenAI, handles data fed to the bot, and it is likely our inputs are being plowed right back into training the model, which means they could potentially be regurgitated to people using it…

“If you’re doing original reporting and unearthing things people don’t already know, you’re probably gonna be okay. But if you’re an analysis person, let’s say, 20 years down the road, you might need to find something else to do.“ –…

““First, no LLM tool will be accepted as a credited author on a research paper. That is because any attribution of authorship carries with it accountability for the work, and AI tools cannot take such responsibility.““ NATURE Editorial Leading science…

“This year we’ll start to see more of these tools being opened up to creators, journalists, and others, allowing us to create new versions of ourselves, of others, and the world around us.”  WNIP synthesizes the most recent report from…

“ . . . given that AI programs assemble articles by churning through mountains of publicly available information, even the best automated stories are essentially clip jobs, devoid of new findings or original” reporting. Paul Farhi The Post documents what…

“The debates over automation in journalism are not straightforward. Many welcome the capability to make non-journalistic tasks more efficient, but at the same time worry that cheaply produced synthetic media and semi-automated content could further commoditise news and undermine trust.”…

“Issues such as the differences between narrow and general AI, data fundamentals, non-code tools for journalism, algorithms as amplifiers of social bias, and the distinctions between automation and AI are among the questions that need further consideration in journalism programs…

“. . . what new human journalism practices are there that don’t just broaden or deepen the existing production model, but serve to re-imagine it and its outcomes?“ Mark Deuze and Charlie Beckett Threats of automation are proportional to the…

“. . . this year’s data confirm how the various shocks of the last few years, including the Coronavirus pandemic, have further accelerated structural shifts towards a more digital, mobile, and platform-dominated media environment, with further implications for the business…

“. . . we confirmed our suspicion about the AI gap between large and small organizations. In the cohort we surveyed, AI technologies were not in wide use. But the reasons largely came down to a lack of any cushion…

“Augmented reporting” is currently the favoured use of AI in journalism, says a report for the Knight Foundation. The category includes Other ways newsrooms are using AI, in order of their reported use, are Researchers examined 130 projects over the…

German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) has ten guidelines for ethically using AI-driven content in their journalism. They have an AI + Automation group that led the development of the guidelines. They organize their considerations under ten headings: . ….

Microsoft News is upping its use of algorithms for certain editorial functions, handing out lay-off notices to contract journalists in the US and UK. Machines have been working alongside Microsoft editors for some time, assisting with editorial tasks for MSN,…

A 3D AI news anchor is the latest in a steady evolution of ‘vocational avatars’ in China. The AI figure is produced by Sogou, a Chinese search and internet company, which has pioneered AI news figures in association with Zinhua…

An AI system scanning 20 sources a second helps a Swedish publisher be first with local alerts on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Called Corona Watch, the automated tool scans all regional health care sites and issues alerts when warranted. It…