Every day, round the clock… journalists are breaking stories in newsrooms. It requires skills, experience, a curious mind and the ability to think on one’s feet. Some essentials in their profession.
But have you ever wondered…
Can Chatbot like the OpenAI’s ChatGPT replace journalists in publishing breaking stories?
Well, the ChatGPT itself confesses that it can’t. The nerd application says it lacks “critical thinking and contextual understanding that human journalists possess.”
When given a prompt “Hi! Will you replace journalists in publishing breaking news?” ChatGPT replied saying it does not have the “ability to conduct interviews, build relationships with sources, and provide insights and analysis based on experience and expertise.”
“Journalistic ethics and values play an important role in ensuring that news is reported accurately and fairly, and that information is verified before being published,” it adds.
Well, there is no doubt that journalism requires research to gather accurate and reliable information. This often involves digging through public records, conducting interviews, and fact-checking sources. ChatGPT’s computing skills will fail to do all that, at least as of now.
“Based on where it is today, it’s not original. It’s not breaking anything new. It’s based on existing information. And it doesn’t have that analytic capability or the voice,” said Madhumita Murgia, a newly appointed AI editor at the Financial Times, a report by Reuters Institute said.
It is pertinent to note that ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have the potential to automate certain tasks, which could lead to job replacement in some industries. That is why many people creep out witnessing the human-like capabilities of the chatbot and fear weather the AI will soon snatch their jobs away from them.
Professor Charlie Beckett, head of the Polis/London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Journalism AI research project, says, “AI is not about the total automation of content production from start to finish: it is about augmentation to give professionals and creatives the tools to work faster, freeing them up to spend more time on what humans do best,” he says. “Human journalism is also full of flaws and we mitigate the risks through editing. The same applies to AI. Make sure you understand the tools you are using and the risks. Don’t expect too much of the tech.”
AI is unlikely to completely replace human workers in most areas, as it still lacks the ability to perform many tasks that require creativity and emotional intelligence.
It can be a useful tool for journalists but ChatGPT’s massive dataset of text cannot stand tall beside real journalists and what they can pull off. Language model technologies cannot replace human intellect and discretion. To guarantee that their reporting is truthful and objective, journalists must still confirm facts and use critical thinking.
Many media portals are making use of AI these days. The New York Times utilised ChatGPT to develop a Valentine’s Day message generator with a variety of prompts, while BuzzFeed revealed that AI will power its well-known personality quizzes.
Marconi thinks that given the amount of information available AI can play a crucial role in lessening the workload for journalists. “The news industry must be actively engaged in the AI revolution,” he says.
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