Category: Academic papers

“. . . we need to stop focusing just on outputs and process, and should also consider missing inputs and missing outputs in algorithmic policy.“ Catherine Tucker When data is the diet for algorithmic prediction, accuracy depends on more than…

“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…

Leads for U.S. political coverage are surfaced by algorithms in another development from the emerging field of computational news discovery. The lead author of this paper describing the project is Nick Diakopoulos, a professor at Northwestern University and author of…

The authors provide a thorough account of the progression ‘from artisan journalism to artificial journalism.‘ They compare writing by algorithms and humans, and project several implications of artificial journalism to come, including: Changes from efforts to control the story to…

Seventy-four sets of ethical guidelines have been developed for AI since 2016. It makes a total of 84 ethics documents currently in circulation. Sources split fairly evenly between government and private industry, each contributing about 22% of the total. The…

This article from JOURNALISM & MASS COMMUNICATIONS QUARTERLY is like reading the opening remarks from a well produced panel. Six scholars present ideas about AI in journalism. Author and NYU professor Meredith Broussard warns against technochauvinism: ‘let us not perpetuate…

Automated systems present trade-offs in craft. In the academic journal DIGITAL JOURNALISM, authors Rhianne Jones and Bronwyn Jones examine two R&D systems at BBC. Among several observations, they find readying material for algorithmic retrieval takes more time than writing for…

‘AI has barely touched investigative journalism, let alone transformed it.’ Benefits of AI in investigative journalism should be weighed against its limitations, says Jonathan Stray in the academic journal DIGITAL JOURNALISM. Stray explores how AI systems have have been used…

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…

The chattiness of an AI-generated voice impacts how much it’s trusted and varies by user, according to researchers at Apple. They found useability increased when the conversational style of a voice assistant more closely matched individual preferences. They suggest conversational…

Ali Furken Biten and his co-authors report about an algorithm that can improve automated caption writing. Algorithms only know what they are instructed or what they can learn from data. That means that machine learning algorithms typically express only what…

‘We find a stunning degree of trust in algorithms relative to other sources across all of the experiments.’ There is an ‘urgent need’ for more public awareness of algorithms reports this research team after conducting six studies of public attitudes….

Carl-Gustav Linden says images of robots at keyboards don’t depict the real story of automated journalism. Current developments are simply new kinds of software for news work, he says, something that’s been going on for years. He believes automated systems…

Andres Veglis & Theodora A. Maniou offer a high-level survey of the evolution of chatbots, their uses in news, and associated issues. Chatbots simulate a conversation where one end of the exchange is an algorithm. They may be defeated when…

Efrat Nechushtai and Seth Lewis burst filter bubbles in this paper about choices made by news algorithms. They researched automated story selection by Google News in the 2016 US Presidential election. They found liberals and conservatives were shown the same…

Seth Lewis and his co-authors examine culpability when possible wrongs result from news stories generated by algorithms. They conduct their analysis using US libel law and assess how fault may be determined when algorithms choose what goes in a story….

Alexander Fanta looks at European news organizations using AI-enabled tools. His paper presents insights about current practices and opinions from users. SEE FULL PAPER  Download PDF (free)   Fanta, A  (2017) ‘Putting Europe’s Robots on the Map: Automated journalism in news…

When Katja Grace and co-authors first released this paper in June 2017, it provoked worldwide headlines. Their findings showed AI experts believe there is a 50% probability AI will ‘outperform humans in all tasks’ by 2062. The paper presents a…

Matt Carlson says algorithms may challenge journalistic authority. He argues that journalistic judgement and algorithmic judgement should not be intertwined. AUTHOR Matt Carlson, Department of Communication, St. Louis University. ABSTRACT ‘Journalistic judgment is both a central and fraught function of…

Elizabeth Kirley foresees a rise in ‘cognitive journalism.’ She examines the legal norms this may challenge, including how the law views personhood. ABSTRACT ‘Today’s journalist is immersed in news production that no longer treats robot-written news as a mere reference…

Konstantin Nicholas Dörr and Katharina Hollnbuchner present a framework for considering ethical issues when algorithms generate news. AUTHORS Konstantin Nicholas Dörr, Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, Media Change & Innovation Division, University of Zurich Katharina Hollnbuchner, Institute of…

Using algorithms for story discovery heralds a new phase for social media says Neil Thurman and his co-authors. They look at the implications when algorithms assess social posts and take a detailed look at one in particular, SocialSensor. Their study…

Konstantin Dörr examines Natural Language Generation (NLG) and its uses for preparing news. He includes analysis based on talks with 13 service providers. AUTHOR Konstantin Nicholas Dörr, University of Zurich, Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research, Media Change &…

Lin Weeks lays out questions for case law when news writing is automated. She wrote the paper while a J.D. candidate at NYU. ABSTRACT ‘New computer algorithms are capable of taking data-heavy input, such as stock prices, and outputting paragraphs…

Matt Carlson points out how algorithmic reporting may challenge journalistic authority. His paper includes an account of the formative period for Narrative Science, one of the pioneers in Natural Language Processing (NLP) for journalism companies. AUTHOR Matt Carlson, Department of…

Nick Diakopoulos examines the power of algorithms. He considers how they function, their influence in society, and suggests approaches to increasing accountability. His paper analyzes five cases in journalism. He is Director of the Computational Journalism Lab at Northwestern University,…

‘It is acceptable to fail at AI and at Friendly AI. It is acceptable to succeed at AI and at Friendly AI. What is not acceptable is succeeding at AI and failing at Friendly AI.’ Eliezer Yudkowsky says understanding intelligence that is artificial…