Artificial Intelligence in Journalism: USP Lectures

Summary

This presentation explores the transformative role of AI in media and journalism, highlighting its applications in newsrooms worldwide. It delves into machine learning, discussing its importance in pattern recognition and data analysis. The talk covers AI's impact on journalistic tasks, from news gathering using tools like News Tracer to content creation with natural language generation. It also addresses ethical considerations, the rise of deep fakes, and the evolving landscape of communication theories in the age of AI.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are increasingly important in media and communication, transforming newsrooms and journalistic roles.
• 🤖 ML is not about machines having artificial brains but training them to perform specific tasks based on user-defined measures and data patterns.
• 📊 A recent survey indicates that nearly 70% of journalists believe AI will play a significant role in future journalism, alongside other technologies like 5G.
• 🔍 AI applications in newsrooms, such as Oho Publico's corruption detection tool, BBC's AI chatbot for COVID-19 information, and South China Morning Post's audience identification, are enhancing capabilities in various ways.
• 🗞️ AI enables machines to learn from experience, improving their predictive and task performance through deep learning and natural language processing.
• 📈 Machine Learning involves training sets for learning data properties and testing sets for evaluating machine performance, refining the process with feedback.
• 📚 The types of machine learning include supervised learning (with predefined categories), unsupervised learning (discovering patterns without labels), and reinforcement learning (dynamic goal-oriented interaction with feedback).
• 📝 Natural Language Processing (NLP) is crucial for AI in journalism, enabling computers to understand, interpret, and generate human-like text from data.
• 🏗️ AI is changing traditional journalism models from linear to more dynamic and circular patterns, impacting news gathering, production, and distribution.
• 👥 The rise of AI in journalism does not render human journalists redundant; instead, it shifts their focus from repetitive tasks to more analytical and creative work.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Ethical considerations and transparency in AI applications are vital, including algorithm explainability, avoiding bias, and ensuring human oversight.

Q & A

What role does artificial intelligence (AI) play in the field of media and communication?

AI plays a significant role in media and communication by enabling various newsrooms to adopt AI applications for tasks such as predicting patterns, automating news writing, and enhancing data mining and analysis.

What is the general perception of journalists about the importance of AI in future journalism?

According to a recent survey mentioned in the script, nearly 7 out of 10 journalists believe that AI will play a very important role in future journalism.

Can you provide an example of how AI is used in newsrooms for detecting patterns of corruption?

Oho Publico, a peripheral news outlet, uses a tool that can spot potential patterns of corruption in government procurement contracts by analyzing the documents with their algorithm.

How is the BBC using AI to assist with the coronavirus pandemic?

The BBC has been testing an AI-powered chatbot to answer questions about coronavirus, using their own reporting resources and summaries from official sources.

What is the South China Morning Post doing with AI to identify look-alike audiences?

The South China Morning Post is using AI to identify look-alike audiences to target new subscribers who are similar to their existing subscribers, enhancing their marketing strategies.

How has the Writer's News Agency utilized speech-to-text technology?

The Writer's News Agency has used speech-to-text technology to add time-coded transcripts to their video archives, making the videos more searchable and easier to find key moments.

What are the two main components that AI generally relies on for performing tasks?

AI generally relies on deep learning and natural language processing to perform tasks, enabling it to understand, predict, and generate human-like responses.

What are the three different processes of machine learning mentioned in the script?

The three processes of machine learning are supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning, each serving different purposes in training machines with data.

How does AI impact the traditional newsroom model?

AI impacts the traditional newsroom model by introducing a more dynamic and circular pattern of news gathering, production, and distribution, as opposed to the linear model.

What is the significance of natural language processing (NLP) in newsrooms?

NLP is significant in newsrooms as it helps in scanning large documents for patterns or keywords, creating summaries, and generating human-like content from structured data.

What ethical considerations should be taken into account when using AI in journalism?

Ethical considerations include transparency and explainability of algorithms, addressing algorithmic errors or bias, and ensuring human oversight to make decisions and tweak the algorithms.

What is the potential issue with AI-generated content that can mislead audiences?

The issue of 'deep fakes' arises where AI can alter images or audio files to create false representations of reality, potentially misleading audiences.