A St. Louis newspaper decided to challenge the artificial intelligence debate by having a robot write an editorial opposing the use of AI in journalism.
The article featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch was written entirely by Microsoft’s Bing Chat AI program, according to a disclaimer in the article.
The bot was instructed to “write an editorial for a newspaper arguing that artificial intelligence should not be used in journalism.”
The newspaper then turned to its AI platform to take over. Bott then argued that while AI “may have certain benefits,” it “poses a serious threat to the quality, integrity and ethics of journalism.”
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Laptop screen with OpenAI ChatGPT website active. (Jaap Arrians/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“One of the main reasons why AI should not be used in journalism is that it can undermine the credibility and trustworthiness of news,” the AI bots wrote. “AI can generate fake news, manipulate facts, and spread misinformation.”
The bots then listed examples of what could go wrong, citing incidents from 2020, and created fake news articles that were launched entirely by AI and included articles.
“Human journalists have passion, curiosity, and creativity. AI cannot replicate these qualities.”
“Furthermore, AI can also create deepfakes, which are synthetic videos or images that can make people appear to say or do things they haven’t actually done,” the bot reasoned. did. “Deepfakes can be used to defame, intimidate, and influence public opinion.”
Bing logo displayed on laptop screen (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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Bots point out that, unlike humans, AI cannot determine what is morally and factually right or wrong, cannot protect its sources, and has no way of adhering to professional standards of any kind. did.
The article also explains how AI could threaten journalists’ livelihoods, stating that while the platform can perform almost any task that a human journalist can do, it can also be done “faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than a human journalist.” ” He pointed out that it could be done. However, Bot points out that AI cannot completely replace the human element of news articles.
“Human journalists are not only informers, but also storytellers, educators, monitors, and influencers. Human journalists have a voice, a point of view, and a purpose. Passion, curiosity, and creativity,” Bott wrote. . “AI cannot reproduce these properties.”
John Schweppe, policy director for the American Principles Project, echoed similar sentiments, saying that Fox News Digital’s AI “can only report basic facts and figures scraped from the internet.”
“AI is not human and does not have unique thinking,” Schweppe said. “I can’t report on the scene, I can’t break news that hasn’t been reported elsewhere, and I can’t even understand the idea of writing articles that touch on human affairs.”
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Robot using AI text chat (St. Petersburg)
The editorial ultimately concludes that AI should not be used in journalism, calling on media companies to refrain from using AI and “instead support and empower human journalists.” .
“Human journalists are irreplaceable and essential to journalism,” the editorial concludes.
The paper’s editors said the editorial was written almost entirely by AI and was only “lightly edited for presentation.”
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“We find that Bing Chat makes a clear and convincing argument for moving AI away from journalism,” the editors wrote. “This is an ironic and alarming success for the experiment, but we hope it will spark a discussion among our compatriots.”
Schweppe believes it is “inevitable” that AI will start to have a major impact on journalism.
“As companies constantly seek to reduce costs and maximize ‘efficiency’, it is inevitable that many of these reporting jobs will be replaced by AI. That will have a negative impact on journalism as a whole, and will make it easier for people to access information. It would limit their ability to become qualified citizens,” Schweppe said. .
The Post-Dispatch did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
