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.
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.
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.