Journalism, once considered the cornerstone of democracy, is facing an existential crisis in the digital age. The profession is grappling with a confluence of challenges that threaten its very survival.
Now, what if I told you that what you just read, was generated by an AI? My Snapchat AI that I used went on a spiel about everything that is threatening the survival of journalism. While some of it is true, the digital age and social media has made it difficult for traditional news outlets to report. What it fails to mention is how artificial intelligence threatens journalism.
When I asked my AI if artificial intelligence threatens the future of journalism this is what it said. “Artificial intelligence (AI) is actually playing an increasingly significant role in journalism. While AI technology can help streamline certain tasks like data analysis, fact-checking, and even content creation, it’s important to note that AI is a tool that can assist journalists rather than replace them entirely. Journalists bring a human touch, critical thinking, and ethical considerations to their work that AI cannot replicate. So, while AI may change the way journalism operates, it’s more about collaboration between technology and human journalists rather than a direct threat to the profession’s future.”
Now, you might be asking yourself, what is the point I am trying to make? The point I am trying to make is that traditional print journalism is dying. The journalism profession is dying. What I think is that AI can be both beneficial and harmful. The Snapchat AI is right. It can streamline the tedious work that a journalist needs to do, such as data collection and fact checking. It is also right in the fact that journalists bring a human touch, but an AI can be trained in that human touch. You could see how that beginning paragraph of my editorial can be seen as an example of AI’s human touch. That is when AI becomes harmful. When AI is able to write an entire article for you without having to pay any of your journalists to chase a story and track down facts that will be harmful to the profession. My Snapchat AI is not the most powerful tool out there either. It is a watered down version of Chat GPT.
AI isn’t just limited to traditional journalism. It can write entire scripts for a news anchor to use. It can generate questions for investigative journalists to use to try and get to the bottom of a story. In the future they just streamline AI to the consumer and cut out the middleman; the journalist.
What AI can not do, is get to the bottom of a story. It can’t interview an eye witness to a crime. What it can do is take interviews and write an entire article around it if you give it the prompt. That is when AI becomes detrimental to journalists.
What I say is that as journalists, we adapt and survive. As the digital age continues to flourish, we adapt. We use AI to an extent, but to survive we have to keep AI as a useful tool and not one that kills jobs. Journalists have to keep fighting to protect the profession so that future journalists like me can live out their dream jobs.
