Will ChatGPT and other AI tools replace journalists in newsrooms?

Will artificial intelligence (AI) soon replace journalists? Many have asked this question since the emergence of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, who can write a high school essay. a poem, or even pass a medical licensing exam in seconds.

Now AI tools are trickling into newsrooms. CNET, a US technology news outlet, has acknowledged using AI to write financial articles, seemingly as early as November 2022.

If we take a closer look at the articles on CNET, a disclaimer reads: “This article was powered by an AI engine and reviewed, fact-checked and edited by our editorial team”.

However, CNET announced last week that it would pause its AI publishing experiment after discovering factual errors in articles.

“We identified additional stories that required correction, with a small number requiring substantial correction, and several stories with minor issues,” said CNET editor-in-chief Connie Guglielmo. in a statement.

CNET did not respond to a request for comment at time of publication.

To what extent can editors use AI?

While the technology is still in its infancy, multiple AI experts believe newsrooms can benefit from using ChatGPT and similar tools.

“The areas where we could use AI are very limited, but they exist and we should see where it might be in our best interest to use generative AI,” said Ariane Bernard, data project leader at the International News Media. Association.

“I think we should look at non-political and non-controversial topics, not areas that really affect society in a meaningful way. Like lifestyle, which isn’t as controversial. If an AI gives bad advice on how to do it do it yourself, it’s probably OK,” Bernard told Euronews.

Buzzfeed is the latest example of this. The news outlet is also reportedly planning to use artificial intelligence to personalize and improve its online quizzes.

“We’re not using AI to generate content; it’s a tool that some of our quiz writers are using to apply it to an entirely new quiz format,” said a Buzzfeed spokesperson.

“All our quizzes will continue to be human-written, in this new format AI will be applied to the quiz results to change and improve the quiz experience, creating an infinite number of possible answers”.

Can AI replace journalists?

Should we be concerned about artificial intelligence writing the articles we read online?

Gael Breton, the digital marketing and SEO expert who seen for the first time CNET’s use of AI thinks it’s time for everyone to adapt to this new technology.

“Is it good or bad? [It] Doesn’t matter because it happens anyway. What matters is how we use this technology and how we make sure it is not used to spread fake news,” he told Euronews.

“I think we need to understand how it works, learn how to use it – because there’s no way we can get rid of it”.

Breton believes it’s up to Google and other search engines to filter human and AI-generated content and reward the first when it comes to which articles appear first when users search for information.

Breton says he compared how Google referenced human writers versus CNET’s AI-generated content, and that reporters far outperformed AI text in Google’s search results.

“AI can’t publish an article on a major website without human oversight these days, so we’re not ready for editors to remove human writers and replace them with AI,” he said.

Eddie Kim, CEO of Memo, a company that uses AI to analyze new articles, believes it’s evergreen and informational content that is most at risk.

“The power of the editorial publishers will remain. So much of the product that premium publishers offer is their masthead and authority. The same words that live elsewhere just don’t carry the same weight or prominence,” Kim told Euronews.

“Anyone could just write their own articles about themselves. This has parallels with blogging’s great promise of forever disruptive journalism that never materialized”.