BALTIMORE, MD - The continued evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing how journalists do their reporting and information gathering. Twenty-first Century computer technology all over the world has allowed for the efficient, high-speed processing of facts—but it has its cons.
Credit: Jah’I Selassie
With the rise of hyper-intelligent AI programs like ChatGPT, a computer-automated chatbot created by OpenAI, newsrooms have begun discussion about how to use different facets of Artificial Intelligence to their advantage.
Many newsrooms and independent journalists have used AI and its expansive capabilities to explore new marketing and SEO techniques.
Others have sought to understand the full scope of the abilities of chatbots like ChatGPT, some going as far as prompting the program to write articles to see what they’re dealing with as far as competition.
For instance, the Associated Press has used AI bots to write all of its Minor League Baseball stories since 2017.
Part of the appeal of programs like ChatGPT is the platform’s user-friendly features. The computer is given a prompt, or a series of commands, and will write a full-fledged story with the same language subtleties that are present in human-written articles. They’re almost indistinguishable from that of a man-made piece--and they’re written in about one minute.
Credit: Jah’I Selassie
If newsroom employers chose to have AI programs write quick and well-reported stories, they would save tens of thousands of dollars quarterly, though human journalists would be out of a job.
Milton Kent, a professor at Morgan State University’s School of Global Journalism and Communications, believes that the use of AI in newsrooms has lowered the artistic value of traditional journalism.
“[Journalist’s use of AI] has made people lazier. Our society has gotten coarser and more ignorant on some level because the intelligence and the information is so accessible. The idea that you can click a program and have it spit out what you should be writing yourself really cheapens things,” Kent said.
Credit: Jah’I Selassie
He went on to discuss the differences in news stories written by AI and those written by humans (the lack of understanding of cultural nuisances like nicknames). They also do not have the ability to feel empathy.
All things considered, AI has become an almost unstoppable phenomenon that may seem, to some, like it has no limits. Blessing Ojeme, assistant professor of computer science at Morgan State, says AI is limited in its current state, but is on its way to improvement.
“The intelligence of ChatGPT chatbot could be increased to enable it, to understand the context and the nuances of human language. Presently, it doesn't have the intelligence to understand when a question, for instance, is asked for humor or sarcasm,” he said.
Professor Milton Kent and Jah'I Selassie discuss the repercussions of AI use in newsrooms.
According to the lecturer, AI was created purely out of the need for efficiency in daily tasks. It has created tools that are able to collect “unimaginable” amounts of data, while also supplying its users with writing assistants.
Though all this talk of AI possibly replacing humans in various career fields in the future may seem scary, Ojeme says we don’t have to worry about this any time soon. “There is never a time that AI will be able to replace humans in all jobs. AI may displace some jobs, but it is just as likely to result in the creation of new jobs too.”
Longtime journalists like Kent are keeping their fingers crossed that Ojeme is correct in this theory.
“It's a nice tool. But at the moment where an organization relies on that, as opposed to humanity, then they've lost their way.”
By Jah’I Selassie
Contributions: Global Communication a Multicultural Perspective
Video: Wall Street Journal
Audio: Jah’I Selassie, Milton Kent
Photo: Jah’I Selassie
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