News articles and reports have traditionally been dependent on the expertise of journalists. However, as Artificial Intelligence (AI) has paved the way for new strategies for content creation and fundamental communications.
There is an implicit fear and threat that this means the journalists are out of a job. This is not true at all: in due course, they will likely be needed more than ever, as the success of projects such as Bellingcat or even Snopes has shown.
None of that changes the fact that the threat is there and is felt by journalists themselves, potential investors, board members. So, it does need to be addressed. There certainly is a threat to those who fail to adapt properly to an era of AI in journalism, as well as to those whose instinct is to dismiss and not adapt at all.
AI is not a well understood issue and it is particularly poorly understood in areas where it can help with creative output. Often, when a marketable example of its function, use and failings become widespread within journalism, that is taken as its limits. The nature of AI in journalism therefore becomes even less well-understood.
The best known examples of AI in journalism
In recent years, artificial intelligence has dramatically aided journalism. Large news services use automated solutions such as that provided by Automated Insights or United Robots, which provide Natural Language Generation by turning structured datasets into a huge volume of stories in one move.
This method largely uses preset phrases and a lot of work before the action itself, but this has limited use: financial, sports and electoral reporting. This is well-understood, but is just one product.
The number of trivial articles or plain reports written by AI is on the rise, allowing professional journalists to focus on producing better, more in-depth content. As AI tools and other services develop and do harder work, so journalists can, themselves, take on much more ambitious projects.
This is, incidentally, one of the core reasons Origin Hope was founded, both through its service, AI and its technology, to provide all the advantages with all the flexibility to support any content operation.
Widespread but lesser-known uses of AI in journalism
News articles can be drafted in seconds by in-house software at many companies. All it requires is data. This data can be presented as numbers, audio or video. Using AI, those data and information will generate relevant news articles for readers.
Many companies have these tools and they have been present for some time, whether powered by AI or not. The simplest way to think about it is as drafting templates for a team to follow, then using a computer to enforce or advance these.
This can extend to Content Management systems, especially when it comes to visibility.
Audiences and predictive AI exists, too. As with any social media platform, AI in digital journalism uses a framework to create personalized news for readers. AI systems can determine from how frequently a reader reads a specific piece of literature what other interests they may have.
AI can then make predictions for future behavior, wider content consumption and preferences. Often, it can immediately guess at demographic traits and adjust accordingly.
How to enhance journalism with AI
AI-generated news provider (and Origin Hope sister firm) Monok enters the picture. According to one of its founders, Adam Sam, Monok's AI offers its users "news from all over the world in multiple languages," along with relevant, story-enriching videos as well as social media posts.
What Monok offers is time: by taking work off desks and freeing up space for other projects. That is the real effect AI can and will have. AI is a powerful tool for journalism with many uses, increasing editorial productivity and efficiency.
AI is still a developing technology. It will probably take years for us to fully understand the capabilities of artificial intelligence and harness its full potential, but we can harness a lot of it, right now.
We go much further into how to use AI in this article.
How journalists use it, however, and that they use it effectively, will weigh on the outcomes it has for the profession. AI is nearing a tipping point for journalism, where the future becomes gloriously bright.
Origin Hope provides any content operation with newsroom efficiency, powered by its optimized processes, AI technology and excellent customer service. We work with marketing departments, independent creators, publishers and media groups around the world. Get in touch here