The Associated Press has presented its approach to using generative AI and has joined some major news organizations in doing so.
A leading international news agency has set out its guidance on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for journalism production. The Associated Press said it would continue to experiment with AI, but would not use it to create publishable content and images.
Advertisement
While the technology is being adopted by more industries as generator equipment becomes widely available and efficient, the news industry is asking itself tough questions about the subject.
Can viewers really trust news services that are using AI to generate content?
While some organizations are creating restrictive rules to incorporate AI into their workflows, others are adopting the technology more openly.
A recent job advertisement from Newsquest Media Group is seeking an “AI-assisted reporter” who will “be at the forefront of a new era in journalism, creating national, local and hyper-local content for our news stories.” Brand, while also applying its traditional journalistic skills”. Reporter will work with AI to “help write news articles”, and “integrate AI-generated content into newsrooms of various sizes”.
Job ads like this show how divided the industry is on the topic of using AI to create content for news. There are now specific courses available to learn how to apply AI in the newsroom. Earlier this summer, EuronewsNext spoke to Charlie Beckett, who leads the LSE’s JournalismAI project.
He described a “new world” for journalism where everything a journalist reports is “now going to be influenced by AI”.
Although newsrooms eventually use AI, Beckett stresses that it is a “language machine … not a truth machine”, so the human factor is still an important element in the making of journalism.
Here’s a look at how different news organizations are handling the AI revolution.
associated Press
The AP has issued guidelines on the use of AI, adding these to a chapter in its influential stylebook.
“Our goal is to give people a good way to understand how we can experiment a little and still be safe,” said Amanda Barrett, vice president of news standards and inclusion at the AP.
The company said that any content generated by AI should be carefully scrutinized – like content from any other source, and that photo, video or audio segments generated by AI should not be used unless that segment Don’t be the subject of the story yourself.
Advertisement
The AP said the AI could, however, be used for more trivial tasks, such as putting together stories sent to newspapers.
It has experimented with simpler forms of AI for a decade, using it to create short news stories from sports scores or corporate earnings reports. It’s been an important experience, Barrett said, but “we still want to enter this new phase cautiously, making sure we protect our journalism and protect our credibility.”
The news organization wants its reporters to be familiar with the technology, Barrett said, because they’ll need to report stories about it for years to come.
On its part, AP’s rival news agency Reuters has said it is taking a “responsible approach” to AI that “protects accuracy and promotes trust”.
Guardian
The British newspaper was one of the first major news organizations present your point of view for Generic AI, with a joint statement from its chief executive and editor-in-chief.
Advertisement
He wrote in June about how he would and wouldn’t use AI tools. The Guardian says AI will be used editorially only when it “contributes to the creation and delivery of fundamental journalism”, and with human oversight and the permission of a senior editor.
The paper will also focus on using technology to help journalists “interrogate large data sets” or suggest improvements, and reduce workload from “time-consuming business processes”.
He says another guiding principle will be choosing AI tools that consider issues such as “permissibility, transparency and fair reward” in relation to the content on which they were trained.
This is a major point of contention surrounding popular chatbots such as ChatGPT, with its creator OpenAI accused of training its language models on copyrighted material.
local news
While major news organizations may tread cautiously into a future with AI, the technology may provide opportunities for smaller newsrooms that are resource- and budget-constrained.
Advertisement
news corp australia Up to 3,000 articles per week are reportedly being generated using generative AI, with small teams using the technology to publish thousands of local stories each week on topics such as weather, fuel prices and traffic conditions.
Meanwhile, this month a local newspaper in Nottinghamshire, UK it was announced Testing the use of AI.
The paper’s senior editor Natalie Fahy said in a letter to readers that the Reich-owned regional daily would use AI to generate bullet point summaries at the top of some of its longer articles.
These will be checked by an editor before being added to the article, he said, while there will also be a line at the bottom stating that AI has been used.
