AI is a fascinating development that can be seen to have positive and negative effects on the journalism industry. Some believe that AI is taking jobs away from writers and researchers, but others argue that AI can be an incredibly useful tool to enhance journalism when used correctly.
How Does AI Work?
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, uses algorithms and data to perform tasks that would usually require human intelligence. This can save substantial time, because AI sites can take just seconds to source relevant data.
Who Uses AI?
AI has become so mainstream now that many people use it for various reasons, both at work and at home. It can act more or less as an assistant in journalism, saving writers so much time researching. Take, for instance, people studying sports journalism courses at https://schoolofjournalism.co.uk/journalism-courses/sports/. They can use AI features to gather key dates in the history of sport to help build their content.
What Is the Problem with AI?
Aside from the fact that it is not generated by a human, there are a few things that can affect the authority of AI. This includes false news that AI search engines might take into consideration as truth and the credibility of facts and sources.
If used within a journalistic capacity, there’s also the issue of deceiving an audience if the reader believes that what has been published has been created by the author alone. Journalism has, for a long time, always been a champion of transparency, as this is how trust is built with readers.
Should You Credit AI in Journalism?
While AI is not and will never be the sole author of a text, as it requires a human to generate it and relies on other sources, it could be labelled as a co-author in the process.
As we enter a new hybrid era of journalism, AI can certainly be described as a useful support system for writers but should be credited for transparency reasons. It must also be used responsibly so as not to undermine the hard work of journalists.
