Rise of AI in Journalism
The most recent and significant innovation in Journalism was the rise of AI in the news realm. The presence of AI-generated content in the news ecosystem has been increasing consistently each month. This innovation is responsible for bringing about a fundamental change in the workings of the news ecosystem.
The advancement of technology brings opportunities for efficient content creation but also introduces the challenge of false information spread by AI. This raises the question: Is AI-authored content the new norm, or just a passing facade?
To find answers to the given question, we will first analyze the possible impacts of AI on the news ecosystem.
Rise of AI: In Favor
The first aspect for analysis is the positive impacts of AI in and on the news ecosystem, collectively. As important as the innovation itself is to the given field, accepting the innovations and adapting accordingly is equally crucial. The rise of AI in the news ecosystem is bringing in some great opportunities, some of which are given below.
1. Efficient handling of grunts or repetitive work
When creating content, especially in journalism, the process of writing involves thorough research on topics or going through a lot of data as the necessary first step. However, this can become repetitive and boring, for example, when creating content about elections or COVID-19. This can reduce the writer’s efficiency and disrupt their workflow.
AI is being trained to carry out repetitive tasks like generating basic reports for routine events. In situations like this, AI poses as a perfect candidate to avoid grunt work and focus on more important aspects of the content they are working on.
2. Scaling Content Creation
The process of content creation starts with the planning of content creation and ends with managing whatever content has already been published. This process can often become tiresome, with research, analysis, and writing all taking place simultaneously. Thus reducing the speed and efficiency of the employee and, in some cases, being confusing.
To redeem employees from such situations, AI has proven to be a brilliant alternative. AI is programmed in such a manner that it can analyze and give quick and effective solutions. This feature is especially useful when a business has a large product line.
3. Sentiment Analysis
Content creation involves more than writing articles. Analysis is crucial in shaping the article, including identifying the tone and gauging public reaction. However, differing perspectives and personal bias can impact this analysis.
Situations like this can be easily avoided by using the AI model for analysis. The AI models are being trained to analyze the sentiments of the content and discussions to identify emerging trends and gauge public reactions.
4. 24/7 Availability
One of the major drawbacks of the deployment of a physical workforce is that they can’t be available 24/7. There ought to be times when the work would need to be put on hold to accommodate the absence of the employee.
Unlike the physical workforce, AI chat bots are available 24/7 globally. They are trained in such a way that they can answer any queries asked and make summaries of new stories around the clock.
5. Cost Efficient
The traditional employment of a physical workforce has its drawbacks. It requires significant investments in factors like land, electricity, and more. The return on these investments may not meet expectations. These expenses can be especially burdensome for new or small-scale businesses.
To help businesses save on such costs, AI can be considered a great alternative. Automating a few tasks can save businesses from hiring additional staff. Thus reducing the production costs.
Rise of AI: In Opposition
The second and equally important aspect is the negative impacts of AI in and on news ecosystems, collectively. With newer innovations comes a price that people pay to stay in tune with the trends and latest technology. This price can be in terms of the moral aspect, the creative aspect, or the psychological aspect. The rise of AI in the news ecosystem has brought some trouble along the way, some of which are given below.
1. Ethical Concerns
The AI is designed and trained to blur lines between certain ethical codes of conduct. The use of AI in the news ecosystem raises ethical concerns related to who controls the algorithms and the potential threat of AI being manipulated for the wrong reasons. With AI-authored content, there is a possibility of pushing certain agendas, spreading misinformation, and influencing news articles.
The scenario would have been different if the task in question had been assigned to a human. This is so because, in the case of AI, it presents and frames certain stories or news articles based on pushing certain agendas, which might hinder other article’s chances of being read by the audience.
2. Vicious Cycle of False Information
The news generated by AI bots tends to spread false or misleading information, which further hampers the reliability of the news articles as well as the news channels and organizations. These articles and headlines then become part of the vast ocean of information present.
Eventually, the content available is mainly the false information that was fed to the system over some time. This content then proceeds to become the source of information AI feeds on. Ultimately, this leads to the creation of a vicious cycle of false and misleading information.
3. Lack of Human Touch
The AI-generated content doesn’t involve human essence in any form or at any step. One way to look at things is the necessity of keeping humans out of it to ensure lesser response time and efficiency. The other way to look at things is that the loss of human touch causes issues with the tone used for the target audience. Furthermore, grammatical errors and issues with finding the correct brand voice might arise in the process.
You can easily handle and deal with such concerns by involving humans and ensuring a business is not excessively reliant for all the functions.
4. Job Displacement
The excess dependency of businesses, especially new and small business models, on AI-authored content, or AI in general, has led to the eventual replacement of physical manpower with machines. While it might help businesses with cost-cutting, in the long run, this solution might not be feasible, both for the businesses and for society.
The increase in AI replacing human jobs has led to widespread fear and uncertainty in society, especially in journalism. Reports suggest that these job losses will continue in various sectors, which is concerning for everyone.
5. Dumbing Down the Content
The AI is programmed to simplify content for easier understanding, but this approach may leave out critical details and context, compromising the reliability of the information provided.
You can avoid this scenario altogether by ensuring that humans are the ones doing the research and analyzing such critical facts and data.
Rise of AI: The Verdict
Now that we have analyzed both aspects of AI-authored content, we are capable enough to decide whether AI-authored content should be the new norm or not.
The answer to this question remains debatable and might differ for people across sectors. The educational sector has benefited greatly from AI’s existence. It has increasingly been using AI’s features for personalized learning, automated grading, and intelligent tutoring systems. And they have rightfully been using it to push to reduce burdens on teachers and streamline the learning process.
There are also sectors like journalism & the media sector itself that have faced mass layoffs due to the emergence of AI and AI-authored content. Sectors like information and technology itself had to lay off thousands of employees, creating a hostile environment in society. Moreover, the fear of getting trapped in the vicious cycle of false or misleading information is hard to ignore.
So, considering the above facts, it is well understood that we would have to find a middle path to evolve and develop without jeopardizing other factors. The next segment of this blog discusses what could be deemed as the possible middle path for the current situation.
Balancing the Odds
The most viable answer to the question of whether AI is the new norm or not is to find the middle path instead of sticking to one side. Moreover, this technique is found to be successful in many cases, as it helps to balance out the bads of one alternative with the good of the other alternative.
While it is feasible to use AI to carry out mundane tasks to save time and efficiency for the employee, you can ensure accurate information by making sure the employee reviews the content. A human editor can be suffixed towards the end of the research process to ensure that facts are cross-checked and aligned with the general tone and the article’s context.
Moreover, a human editor can help balance out the drawbacks of AI in critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and storytelling. This will ensure that the presence of a human editor balances out the drawbacks of AI, which in the long term can take over repetitive tasks and eliminate unnecessary tasks for the human editor.
An ideal balance between the contenders is what would bring out the maximum efficiency and ensure better results. So, in other words, the long-term solution to the problem is a collaboration between AI and human editors.
Conclusion
With this, we come to the end of a thorough analysis of the impact and extent of AI-authored contempt in the news ecosystem. We hope by now you will be a bit more clear about the impact and extent of AI-authored content and will be able to make better choices for the future.
Hello, Curious Minds!
Welcome to my corner of the digital world, a space brimming with words and woven with ideas. Fresh out of the rigorous trenches of an Economics honors degree at the esteemed University of Delhi, I know a thing or two about crunching numbers and dissecting trends. But beyond the world of graphs and equations, lies my love for reading and writing. Admittedly, I’m a newbie in the content writing scene, still tasting the ink of fresh beginnings. I believe every corner of life holds a story waiting to be told, and I’m eager to be your storyteller. So, strap yourselves in, dear readers, and let’s dive into the captivating world of words together!
P.S. Feel free to drop a comment or reach out – I’m always up for a good conversation!
