Top 7 ways journalist use AI tools daily

AI is slowly, but surely, becoming a widespread tool. Whether you are a marketing manager looking to analyze better customer data, or a content creator looking for inspiration, AI is starting to serve us better and faster (although not always as accurate) than Google. In this regard, it shouldn't be as surprising that journalists have grown quite accustomed to using AI in their everyday work. But, seeing how vital it is that journalists handle information with due care, we must understand how they use AI and what implications their use of AI will have on the future of journalism. So, let's dig in.

How journalists use AI tools

An important thing to remember when evaluating journalists and their use of AI is that there are different types of journalism. Some are quite willing to post unchecked information, as long as they can do so first. And there are those (sadly quite rare) that value information quality and integrity above mere viewership. We say this to illustrate that, while journalists use AI tools, not all of them use them in the same way. And, hopefully, AI will aid us as readers to find the information we want and differentiate the serious from tabloid journalists. Now, let's see how the tools are used.

Content creation

If there is one thing that AI is growing better and better at its content creation. ChatGPT is becoming more and more capable of copying specific styles, following the necessary prompts, and staying within the set boundaries. Therefore, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that journalists use AI for content creation. For more serious journalism like war correspondence or political analysis, this type of content creation may not be as suitable especially if there is an important topic to cover. But, for the more mundane stuff, AI can generate news stories for repetitive or data-heavy topics, saving journalists time.

For instance, AI is quite useful for sports recaps, financial reports, and election results. This is stats-based content that doesn't require much elaboration, but simply information publishing. By using tools like Heliograf or Wordsmith, publishers achieve faster publication, reduced human error, and consistent output.

Enhanced multimedia storytelling

Another way in which journalists use AI is to enhance their content (not simply create it). If need be, journalists can create AR or VR experiences, such as simulations of historical events. This allows them to better illustrate certain events and provide a more engaging experience for the readers. A great example of this is The New York Times who AI to create AR experiences for immersive storytelling. Furthermore, journalists use AI to generate lifelike voiceovers for podcasts or videos. This not only makes written content more accessible to people with disabilities but also gives viewers more options in how they wish to absorb content (in this case listening instead of reading).

Image and video analysis

In a similar fashion, we have AI tools that enhance visual content authentication and analysis. Seeing how easy it is to generate visual content and how dangerous it is that we have such powerful AI content generation tools, these analyses couldn't be more prudent. Detecting manipulated content, verifying photo authenticity, and analyzing video metadata will be must-have tools in modern journalism. Right now, journalists have tools like InVID and Adobe’s Content Authenticity Initiative at their disposal. But the need for more powerful and cheaper tools is only going to increase.

Personalized content recommendations

Providing quality information on time is one thing, but keeping your readers engaged with the content you provide is another. While journalists have always tried to make their content interesting and well-written, modern tools allow for different engagement strategies. Namely, with AI journalists look to engage the audience by delivering tailored news experiences. They do so as any other marketer would. They use algorithms to analyze user preferences, recognize reading patterns, and then outline the habits of one's target demographic. By using this journalists can recommend the right article to the right reader, thus ensuring decent engagement rates.

Chatbots

Another fairly novel way to engage with the audience is to have them talk with you directly. Seeing that journalists often have a target audience that likes to discuss the issues they read about, this strategy of reader engagement ought to be quite effective. Unfortunately, even if you set up a chat system, answering all the reader's questions and comments can be difficult, if not impossible. Well, this is where journalists can make use of AI.

AI chatbots easily overcome the problem of not having enough manpower to interact with readers. These chatbots can deliver personalized updates, answer queries, or summarize stories. In this manner, they can serve as a personal assistant to your readers and ensure that they have a pleasurable experience. A great example of this is The Guardian's chatbot which offers live updates on developing stories. Keep in mind that such chatbots can be integrated with platforms like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, thus making the interaction with your users easier. Furthermore, journalists use them to help chat moderation ensure that engaged readers follow the chat rules.

Transcription and translation

While some journalists focus on local audiences, most want to have as big of a reach as possible. While before this was only viable for large news companies, AI has brought a degree of international accessibility. Through AI journalists can easily transcribe and then translate interviews, speeches, and other multilingual content. Popular transaction tools like Otter.ai, Trint, and Descript are becoming more and more effective in converting audio to text. On the other hand, you have tools like Google Translate, DeepL, and AI-powered real-time translators. With these journalists can gather multilingual data and give as unbiased coverage as possible. Furthermore, they can ensure that their content is properly translated and that it can reach a multilingual audience.

Data analysis

While not as widely used as in content creation, AI has found its use in data analysis. Seeing that journalists often have to sift through enormous amounts of data during investigations it should come as little surprise that they'd want a smart tool to help them. Well, if used properly, AI can be of tremendous help. Firstly, it can identify patterns, trends, and irregularities in data, thus giving the journalists a more in-depth look into the data they are researching. To fit their standard of investigation, journalists often have to train their own AI tools so that they are well-versed within a certain domain. As of yet, we don't have an all-for-one AI fact-checking tool. And seeing that it is AI that can also create false news at a substantial rate, it is difficult to access when and if we will have one. But, more on that later.

The trouble of using AI in journalism

So far we've discussed the most common ways in which journalists use AI tools. As you can see, there is hardly an aspect of journalism where AI doesn't have a role to play. From information gathering to content creation and reader analytics. If we also take into account how AI helps viewers with online searching, it is safe to say that it is revolutionizing journalism. But, while it is important to understand how journalists use AI it is also important to discuss whether doing so is the right course of action.

Loss of human touch

While it is easy to create, AI-generated content can lack the feel and perspective that human journalists provide. For some journalists, this isn't that much of a concern. After all, their whole business model is to churn out as much bombastic content as possible. But, the popularity of such content is doomed to be short-lived. Even now we can notice when a newsreel seems generic and when there is no heart in it.

A common trap is to think that this can all be overcome with more AI. Namely, the idea is that before long AI will develop so much that it will be able to infuse heart into content and make it not generic. Unfortunately for lazy journalists, this is still fiction and is likely to remain so. AI can only copy what it has already processed. Therefore, it cannot generate anything truly new, which we perceive as having a heart. This, while a fact, won't deter lazy journalists who will work quite hard on, paradoxically, not having to do their actual job. So, the risk is that our newsreel will be overwhelmed with generic AI content.

The need for AI tools

With what we've said in mind, it is not difficult to assume that filtering out AI content will become a need of a modern online user. Before we had the issue with computer viruses where we were bombarded with antivirus programs at every turn. Now we have ads and the inability of adblockers to prevent them from sites like YouTube. So, it is safe to assume that soon enough we will have AI tools that filter out AI content. These tools will likely be made by the same companies that provide AI content-creation tools. The old, create the problem sell the solution strategy comes to mind.

On the other hand, the fact that we will get a third-party program to filter out our content brings trouble of its own. While it is useful to remove viruses or block ads, removing AI-generated content might not be the best solution. Namely, who is to say what is AI-generated or what isn't? Every system is prone to mistakes, and it is inevitable that this AI filter will remove some human-made content. This poses a unique risk where a company will have the power to ban certain content on the pretext of being AI-generated. This can be a serious infringement of the freedom of speech, without which journalism simply becomes propaganda.

Eco-friendliness

The last thing we will mention is the eco-friendliness of AI tools. While we don't inherently consider AI as having an ecological footprint, it is vital to note that it does, and a considerable one. Keep in mind that Microsoft uses more power to run its Copilot AI than in certain countries. This is a large energy investment in something that serves mostly to help Microsoft itself. So, if we are serious about our environment, we should carefully consider the development of AI and what implications it has on our world.

Final thoughts

Will our future be something like "I, Robot" or "Matrix"? Most likely not. While the debate is still ongoing about what AI will look like, it is safe to assume that it won't be as dramatic. The main problem we will have is updating our society around this emerging technology. Apart from how journalists use AI tools, we also have to face the problems of job displacement, deep fakes, fake information, content overflow, energy use... All these are important and unfortunately unsolved problems. If we take a look at our history we'll see that we've often first introduced some technology, and only afterward updated our legal and economical systems around it. The question is will AI development give us enough time to adapt, or will it cause significant damage that we will have to rebuild from? We don't know. All we can say is that we live in interesting times.