AI in Journalism

Written by Jayden Bates-Bland

Photo courtesy of the Nieman Journalism Lab

The impacts of artificial intelligence have not been subtle and are hitting creative fields harder than ever. Journalists and strategic communicators alike need to take proactive steps to mitigate the threat that generative AI poses.

Journalism is incredibly important. Since people are resorting to getting their news from social media such as TikTok, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), it has become even more crucial that journalists spread accurate and well-researched information.

A major benefit of social media is its accessibility and widespread nature. However, the virality of the internet perpetuates the spread of misinformation, causing harm to consumers. Since social media has become a passion and even a career for some creators, it has encouraged people to make quick, attention-grabbing content rather than provide well-researched and accurate information.

Now that AI is more accessible and widely utilized, there is a higher chance that more content is being informed by AI. Instead of researching and comparing sources to ensure accuracy and consistency, people look for a brief overview from AI sources like ChatGPT.

Finding visual materials for a post can be difficult and time-consuming. In a traditional newsroom, there are photographers and graphic designers whose sole purpose is to create or find visual materials. Social media sources, however, are not provided with that kind of team. Using AI to develop images diminishes and copies the work and style of actual artists by using their art as references, making it harder to trust the authenticity of an image. This damages the public's perception of journalism and is something that demands close monitoring. The public can combat this by supporting local artists and their craft by visiting art shows or commissioning work from them.

In AI pieces, you can frequently find spelling errors, confusing sentences and outright incorrect information, all of which go against everything journalism stands for. There are times when journalists can be wrong, and in those cases, many rely on the public to perform their civic duties and extract flaws from the news. But in a day when people are becoming more detached from the real world and more focused on their digital, curated “for you” pages, there is no one to fact-check the information being published.

This is a reality that should scare many people. Once people become uneducated about the world, they will likely begin to forfeit their free thought to the ideas of machines. One of the greatest things we have as humans is our ability to think freely and develop our own thoughts on controversial topics.

Instead of learning for ourselves and asking questions, we now look to AI for answers. Our society has set a standard that makes us afraid of being perceived as stupid. Many people genuinely believe they have to have an answer to everything in order to be respected by their peers. This is our downfall.

People need to learn that mistakes are inevitable and human. Personal growth and learning cannot be accomplished through the co-dependency AI creates. Genuine, constructive feedback is essential to building connections and rapport with others.