Can journalism answer the challenge of AI before it’s too late?
As Americans celebrate Labor Day weekend, it is usually lost amid the parades and family barbecues that the tradition of honoring this day at the end of Summer was born out of recognition of the often violent struggle of workers against the forces of unbridled capitalism in the second Industrial Revolution.
These days, the Labor Movement is resurgent but still nowhere near the ascendant force it was in 1894 when the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City, marking the aftermath of decades of confrontation between organized unions and the rail lines, steel and coal industries that often used violent tactics to thwart the progress of industrial workers who were demanding fair wages and better working conditions.
In the decades that followed, these international unions grew. With the emergence of the print newspaper industry in the 1930’s and straight through to the early 2000’s, the Newspaper Guild of America, founded in 1933 and now referred to as The News Guild, has played an important role in representing journalists against an industry that has seen the greed of newspaper chains and corporate publishing houses lead us to a distressing fact: an average of more than two newspapers have closed every week in America through the last 20 years.
And it is at this difficult moment in the history of journalism that we are seeing the emergence of generative AI and machine learning and its applications for work. It is a new era often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution coming after the Information Age which began in the mid-20th century and culminated in the development of the Internet. The transformations coming from this new revolution are already being felt across the industry, and for many, they come with a sense of dread. While the fear of losing even more jobs in already gutted newsrooms is certainly valid, those worried about job losses too often overlook the exciting possibilities for AI to augment the work of journalism and to create new ways for us to serve our communities.
Predictable hand-wringing and fears of technology undercut journalism in the earliest phase of the last revolution, when the emergence of the Internet changed the way people accessed information. We cannot allow journalism to miss out on opportunities in this new revolutionary moment, and we will have to find a way to have a seat at the table as fateful policy decisions are made about the impact of AI on how communities get their news.
These days, the transformative speed of generative AI is moving at lightning speed and the amount of capital coming in behind the leaders in the technology is unprecedented and suggests that this transformation is only just getting started.
Take yesterday’s print edition of the Wall Street Journal: The top of the fold, an old phrase from newspaper publishing, was dedicated to massive developments in AI. There was a sweeping article on Open AI raising another round of investment that now leaves the value of the start-up organization that created the ubiquitous ChatGPT valued at over $100 billion. Another article above the fold was about Nvidia and how the chip maker’s revenue is going through the roof as it continues its dominance in a key component for AI systems.
There is no question that AI is already changing newsrooms in profound ways including translation services which are opening up new dialogue between publishers and the communities they serve; and machine-learning applications to coverage of local stories ranging from high school sports to municipal budgets.
What is profoundly true amid all this advancement and the promise it holds is this: if journalism did not exist, AI would have to invent it. The trusted information that dependable journalism organizations can provide is invaluable in the Large Language Models (LLMs) that drive generative AI. If there is good information in these models, they will become trusted tools. If there is flawed or biased information, the system will break down. So, yes, we all know that journalism needs AI, but the greater truth is that AI needs journalism.
The Open Society Foundation this month published a ground-breaking study titled “AI in Journalism Futures” that brought together more than 1,000 journalists, technology workers and thought leaders in the space and concluded that AI would “fundamentally transform the information ecosystem” and a sense of urgency for the need for leaders in journalism to find a seat at the table to “guide these efforts.”
We believe our mission supporting the next generation of local newsrooms and the local reporters who work in them will give us a unique vantage point on this transformative moment for journalism. We are also impressed with the ways in which our corps members, as we call them, are covering AI. This week we wanted to share some of the stories that have impressed us with their varied approaches to the topic.
Our colleague Alana Campbell has been carefully following the news tumbling out every day about more and more investment in the industry and in her latest On-The-Ground Story Map she shares that the overall investment in AI has now topped $1 trillion.
As she writes, “This reflects the tech industry's belief in AI’s capacity to revolutionize numerous fields, from customer service to scientific research. However, this optimism is not without challenges. AI still struggles with complex reasoning and often produces inaccurate or biased results, raising concerns about its applicability in fields like healthcare, law, and finance.
All of this investment and discussion has people wondering: Is it worth it? Is AI all that it’s cracked up to be? Is it yet another temporary tech novelty like NFTs, or something with more staying power and cultural impact? In this story map, our Report For America corps members explore the answer to these questions.”
These stories can help us see the myriad of current applications of AI and inspire us to think of other uses of the technology for journalism. We’re at a pivotal moment to get on the train of this revolution. Let’s make sure we don’t let technology leave us behind again.
Forgive me for being perhaps naive, and I would love to have a genuine conversation about this, but as far as I’m concerned the entire point of AI in journalism IS to replace human jobs as well as the art and craft of journalism itself. If we continue to allow AI unannounced and unwanted into our lives by allowing these tech companies to eat at articles, videos, pictures, etc, and it truly does get as good as these tech bros say it will, then why even have human writers? The idea of on a daily basis not reading stories written by a human for a human, is absolutely terrifying, both from a reader perspective and from a journalist perspective as well. I like the way that I go out and find stories, I like the way that I come up with how to put together my stories, I don’t care that it takes longer than a few minutes because that’s what quality requires. I don’t want to be replaced by a machine, nor does anyone else I know, and I haven’t seen a single thing about AI being “useful” to journalists in a way that doesn’t involve some tech bro gleefully telling me that I will no longer be required. Again, I’m open to conversation about this, but as far as I’m concerned we’ve been welcoming the enemy into our living room and feeding it cake.