The Fear of AI: Journalism
In less than two years, Artificial Intelligence has become a highly debated topic. Some praise it as the next big technological advance that will improve humanity. It’s also feared as the destroyer of jobs, the new human, and the end to human creation. Among journalists there is growing fear that AI could potentially cost them their jobs.
The fear of Artificial Intelligence in the world is a reasonable concern. There are questions many want answers to; like will AI replace human writers? Will it cause a major change in the job market? Will AI make jobs easier?
Todd O’Neill, an Associate Professor in Interactive Media at Middle Tennessee University, understands there are positives and negatives to AI. Todd explains that AI is a new tool but just like every new development there has always been the fear of new creations and AI is causing a disturbance.
“AI is going to allow us to do a whole lot more in terms of things it can do,” O’Neill said. “Is it going to put people out of work? No, it's gonna change what people do and change the jobs. We have had tools like this before like the Internet, Google search, and Facebook. And those things have revolutionized our everyday lives.”
As Artificial Intelligence is being integrated into people’s lives. Many wonder if companies will incorporate AI tools. If so, would this affect how employer view their employees?
“When you get a job your employer, your client, or your customer will look to newly graduated college students and they make an assumption,” O’Neill said. “And the assumption is you’re young and you should know all about this, so you do that for me. That would happen with AI. It happens with building websites, creating online videos, social media, and Facebook. When you walk into your job you could be put on an AI project.”
While there are many benefits to incorporating AI into everyday society, there are some negative effects. There is a growing concern across many professions especially in journalism about the potential negative impact it can have on their careers. Recently the Hollywood writer strike ended, where writers were protesting against unfair wages. During the strike, there has been talk about replacing writers with AI. And if there are rumors of AI taking over writer jobs, then the question arises what can happen to journalists?
Angie Boyd-Chambers, a Professional Development Professor in Strategic and Media at Middle Tennessee State University agrees that there could be a negative effect from the new wave of technology.
“There are some ways that it's great; Grammarly is sort of an AI that is very additive to what we are writing about, what we’re doing,” Boyd-Chambers said. “Where I can see the worrying concern is; are we creating a campaign, are we creating a logo, are we creating stories using AI? That’s where I feel like we lose that creativity and eventually replacing our own jobs. With only one person sitting there and implementing a few strategic needs”
With so much AI-generated news Journalists may have the fear of relying on AI. While AI can help with assisting journalists many fear in the long run it will replace humans altogether.
Gannett, an owner of numerous local newspapers across America, recently stopped the usage of AI writing articles after being severely mocked and criticized on social media. Gannett had experimented with an AI tool called LedeAI to write sports articles. However, readers noticed the articles were AI-written and left the impression the writer didn’t know how to cover sports.
“Yup, that's a Gannett paper running AI-generated high school football stories. Yup, it's terrible,” one Twitter member wrote.
“This is from a couple of nationally-known Gannett papers,” another Twitter member wrote. “No one is going to pay to have their time wasted by an AI-generated word salad based off the score by quarters.”
AI can produce some content well but it can not produce one key element. A human connection, AI can’t replicate investigative skills, ethical standards, verification of facts, or interviews.
“There is only so much creativity that artificial intelligence can give you and it takes away the human feeling,” Boyd-Chambers said. “It's all about the relationships and the people that are driving it and if we don’t have the people there, then there is just going to be so much that is lost.”
There are so many ways journalists can prepare themselves for the future. AI is going to be prevalent in lots of careers, so one way to be prepared is to educate yourself and embrace it because it is inevitable.