The central point of discussion was the analysis of automation, improvements, and transformations occurring in the media concerning artificial intelligence.
The lecture on “Artificial Intelligence in Journalism” was held as part of the MediaTalks 2023 project, a lecture series on topics related to the media industry intended for students interested in media and communication. The lecture was delivered by Pavle Zlatić, Senior Technical Lead on the Media.Innovations project at IREX. Pavle shared his impressions on the current state of artificial intelligence in the media, focusing on its influence on journalistic work and the media landscape in Europe and worldwide.
The central point of discussion was the analysis of automation, improvements, and transformations occurring in the media concerning artificial intelligence.
Pavle initially highlighted the cycle of inflated expectations, known as the Gartner cycle, which follows historical trends of technological breakthroughs. The Gartner cycle emphasizes the initial excessive interest in new technology, a consistent rise in expectations, disappointment following inflated expectations, and the ultimate leveling of expectations and the actual capabilities of the technology, where it becomes a functional part of everyday life.
This cycle is most prevalent for the generative form of artificial intelligence (Generative AI), and less so for other forms such as machine learning, language models, and others, which were more present before the commercialization of generative AI models.
Regarding the recent development of the dialogue on artificial intelligence, Pavle presented a timeline of the public discourse on this technology highlighting key events.
The first significant event occurred in March 2022 when the Midjourney program became publicly available (allowing for the generation of photos based on input data in software). The second event happened in November 2022 when ChatGPT, the most popular generative AI tool, was introduced, accepted by over 100 million users worldwide in three months. The third significant event in the development of artificial intelligence took place in November 2023 at the OpenAI Development conference, the company that founded ChatGPT, where they presented further development of their software, its new capabilities including text modality, the ability for AI to see images and execute commands based on them.
An example of this function is that a person will be able to send a picture from Niš to artificial intelligence and ask how to pay for parking there, and AI will send all the necessary information to the person on which number to send an SMS with which instructions, etc.
The discussion expanded to the introduction of fundamental changes in information consumption, from searching individual web pages on the internet, through the possibility of searching on the internet using search engines like Google, to the transition of obtaining information on social media, and now, to the foreseeable future, consuming information through artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligences will know which news in what format and style suits our taste and present them to us in a timely manner.
The question arises, where are the media in this entire story – the process of automation, improvement, and transformation.
Automation processes in the media industry dramatically transform editorial activities. Journalists achieve greater efficiency with faster writing and less typing time. Automated processes, such as interview transcription, extraction of key information, and search, optimize journalistic work. Additionally, contextualization, statement comparison, and fact-checking become automated, providing more precise statement analysis. Introducing automation in moderating comments on social media facilitates content filtering, while automatic tagging and organizing metadata further enhance editing. Photo processing, generating templated content, and efficient database searching further contribute to editorial productivity. All these innovations make the process of creating media content faster, more efficient, and adapted to the dynamic environment of the media industry.
Improvements in media management would include:
Efficiency and organization of processes, such as planning, meetings, colloquia, and task delegation, are enhanced through the application of automation. Data analysis of all types becomes better and clearer, providing deeper insights and facilitating informed decision-making. Prediction and trend detection become crucial for anticipating the future needs of the audience, allowing media business models to adapt better to meet those needs.
The introduction of intelligent business models, encompassing advertising placement and content billing, brings a new level of efficiency to the monetization of media content. Quick and clear notifications, guidelines, and instructions enable prompt response to changes in the industry. Managing social media and other channels becomes optimized, while headline and equipment testing provides more precise results.
Editing and creating variations of the same content tailored to specific audience needs and distribution channels become standard practice. All these innovations enable media organizations to achieve additional value through improved efficiency, a deeper understanding of the audience, and enhanced business models.
Finally, Pavle reflects on the transformations that are already happening:
Strategies, solutions, and processes become dynamic, allowing changes and executions in real-time, aligned with available data and set goals. Content personalization becomes crucial, adapting to audience needs and using feedback from the audience.
The introduction of new formats and interactions, such as chatbots, interactive archives, and synthetic content, transforms the way users access and interact with media content. This comprehensive approach brings new dimensions to finding news and stories, paving the way for innovative methods of researching and presenting information. This transformation emphasizes the agility and adaptability of the media industry to keep up with the evolution of audience needs and technological trends.
However, the conclusion of the event boils down to the fact that AI still makes mistakes requiring human intervention. Regarding the journalism profession, Pavle emphasized that with excessive data automation, the role of journalists may gain more significance in providing the human element in journalistic stories.
Organizers of Media Talks are Heror Media Pont and MINORITY & LOCAL MEDIA DEVELOPMENT CENTER
MediaTalks 2023 is done with collaboration with the Swedish Embassy in Belgrade.
Patrons of the project are the Provincial Secretariat for Culture, Information and Relations with Religious Communities of the Authonomous province of Vojvodina and the City Administration for Culture of the City of Novi Sad.
Press release was done by Aradi Vladimir Huba
Foto: Heror Media Pont