getty With half of U.S. adults reporting that they consume news via social media either often or sometimes, the growing prevalence of AI-generated deepfakes on these platforms underscores the troubling trend of AI-fuelled disinformation. This has people pondering the impact of increasingly powerful AI technologies on the future of journalism.
As social media and agenda-driven news sites continue to transform the media landscape, the elephant in the room concerns what journalism will look like in the age of generative AI. Unsurprisingly, we are already starting to see this friction play out in courtrooms. The AI Conflict In Journalism
The New York Times’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft in late December contends that millions of its copyrighted articles were used to train chatbots that are now competing with the news outlet as a source of reliable information. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, believes these claims are baseless and asserts that its objective for partnering with news organizations is to support a healthy news ecosystem and to deploy solutions that support reporters and editors.
While this pending clash between “Big AI” and “Big News” over using licensed content to train models isn’t the only point of conflict between the two entities, it does highlight the blurring lines and widening divide between them.
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Well before this lawsuit—when everyday people began experimenting with generative AI tools to help them write book reports, press releases, contracts and anything else to save time—professionals from all industries began wondering if the technology could one day replace them. And journalists, more than most, see it as an existential threat to their livelihoods.
We can’t underestimate the ability of generative AI platforms to learn and improve their writing ability with time and more data. Still, we understand now that it won’t be replacing the Thomas Friedmans or Karen Tumultys of the world anytime soon. It simply cannot provide detailed nuances and understand certain language, dialogue and investigative prowess to write an article on the level of Woodward or Bernstein.
Nonetheless, the last couple of years has seen significant layoffs from major publications highlighted by the LA Times reducing its newsroom by […]
Generative AI Won’t Replace Journalists, But It Can Enhance Journalism
