Artificial Intelligence in Journalism
By Catherine Sotirakou
Artificial intelligence has rapidly gained prominence in newsrooms, particularly with the advent of ChatGPT, a software built upon OpenAI’s language model, capable of answering questions through human-like conversation. While the widespread availability of ChatGPT has granted access to advanced AI chatbots for everyone, it has also raised concerns about the future of journalism.
Systems that generate automated texts or send notifications are typically used for breaking news, such as earthquakes, or news stories based on sports results and financial reports. This type of robotic journalism has been present for the past decade, with the term “robotic journalist” describing an algorithm that converts data into coherent text published without any journalist’s involvement. Financial news agency Bloomberg swiftly incorporated such algorithms, transforming financial reports into news and ushering in a new era for the industry.
Prominent organizations such as the Associated Press and The Washington Post employ “robotic reporters” daily. More specifically, programmers at the Washington Post introduced the Heliograf program to cover major events. The technology was first used during the 2016 Rio Olympics to assist reporters in coverage of medal ceremonies. Subsequently, the system’s capabilities were expanded to cover the 2016 elections. It is important to note that the texts with the election results were also automatically converted into podcasts using Alexa, which were delivered by a robot, catering to listeners based on their location.
Similarly, the Associated Press, in collaboration with the Wordsmith platform, produces financial and sports articles. At the same time, Forbes has designed Bertie, a content management system that provides journalists with drafts and story templates tailored to the journalist’s chosen topic. Additionally, Bloomberg’s “Bulletin”, launched in 2018, delivers a daily summary of vital news directly to readers’ mobile phones every morning.
Personalized information
Other applications of AI involve personalizing content, with the BBC at the forefront of this field. The “MyBBC” tool collects data on users’ behavior and interests, allowing it to recommend news articles tailored to individual preferences.
However, it’s important to note that algorithms are not infallible.
The integration of AI into journalism has also seen significant failures. One notable instance occurred in 2017 when the Los Angeles Times erroneously tweeted about a 6.8 magnitude earthquake, which had actually taken place in…1925.
As Artificial Intelligence continues to drive profound changes in the media industry, it gives rise to an increasing number of legal and ethical concerns. The necessity for a unified regulatory framework becomes increasingly imperative.
ΙQ Journalism
A Greek Artificial Intelligence platform for journalists is expected to be completed by the end of the year by the Department of Communication and Media Studies of the University of Athens and the company InNews. The platform is called “IQ Journalism: an Intelligent Advisor for Predicting Perceived Quality in Journalism”, which will help editors write news articles by providing real-time recommendations to enhance audience engagement and improve the quality of the written text.
The project is co‐financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project code:T2EDK-04616).
