How does AI affect journalism?

Recently, the Editorial Board of Hai Duong Newspaper assigned me to pilot the design of the cover page of the Spring Giap Thin 2024 newspaper using AI to evaluate and gain experience. From the photos and requirements, my colleague, an expert in AI applications, and I created 3 cover photo options in just 1 day. Not only produced at extremely fast speed, if edited many times, the photos created by AI also have very good layout, lighting, characters, etc., even better than the original photos. When looking at these cover photos, many reporters and editors were amazed at the power of AI in journalism.

Just typing the phrase “AI and journalism” on Google will yield about 276 million results, enough to show how “hot” AI is and its impact on journalism and media. Reading articles by managers, researchers, journalists… on the topic of AI and journalism, each of us will gradually see the “whole picture”. The first thing to mention is that AI brings great benefits to society in general, including journalism.

In the article “GPT Chat, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Journalism” published in Nhan Dan newspaper, comrade Le Quoc Minh, member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan newspaper, Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department, Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists Association emphasized: “Artificial Intelligence (AI). Artificial Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence. Now people are saying these words everywhere” and “ChatGPT can generate very complex text content from simple user commands, generating anything from essays to job applications, to poems and even fictional stories”.

Other major effects of AI include: increasing productivity and efficiency in journalism. AI can automate boring, repetitive tasks, helping journalists focus on more creative, specialized tasks. For example, AI can be used to automatically collect data, suggest headlines, and develop stories. AI also helps news agencies access and process information from many different sources quickly and improve the reader experience. These giant artificial intelligence machines are used to personalize news content, create more diverse and attractive media products, or help readers find information more easily.

In Vietnam today, many press agencies have applied AI in their operations at different levels and jobs. For example, in the New Year's issue, Tuoi Tre newspaper has a special topic about the explosion of AI in 2024 that will change people's lives. The front page image of the newspaper was made with AI technology.

But it would be an illusion and a danger to only see the positive side of AI. The challenges, limitations, and harmful effects of AI are also worrisome issues.

AI applications can search for and synthesize false information. They can be powerful tools for automated editing and production of journalism, but they cannot replace the live labor of journalists in the field. They also cannot replace the humanity, humanity, and humanism of journalists. A poem can be legally correct but without emotion, it is no longer a poem.

As Associate Professor, Dr. Do Thi Thu Hang, Head of the Professional Department, Vietnam Journalists Association said, although AI application software has many outstanding features, in the end, it is just a tool that journalists must learn how to master, use it to serve their work activities to create works and journalistic products according to the principles of the profession.

Clearly, AI is a breakthrough technology that has a profound impact on the journalism industry. Press agencies need to be aware of the effects and risks of AI in order to apply it effectively, contributing to the sustainable development of Vietnamese journalism.