Artificial Intelligence (AI) has undoubtedly transformed every business across industries. The media industry is not an exception. From writing news content to reading news, AI is making its footprint stronger in the newsroom than ever before. However, many raise concerns about its misuse and the spread of fake news.
Still, there is rapid acceptance of AI in the newsroom to deliver news. Newsrooms are harnessing the potential of AI for
- Headline suggestions
- Transcribing interviews
- Analyzing audience behavior
- Creating news reports
Beyond this, AI is creating more responsive and efficient pathways to information, while, at the same time, raising questions about information diversity and the future of human journalism.
AI in News: Providing Personalized News Experience
AI helps news agencies and media houses with user behavior analysis, interests, reading patterns, and even the time of day to deliver personalized news experiences for each individual reader.
As a reader or viewer, you will receive news suggestions and content recommendations tailored to your interests and viewing history. As most people nowadays turn to YouTube and social media platforms for news consumption, it becomes easier for companies to deliver a personalized news experience.
Real-Time Content Analysis and Curation
Advanced AI algorithms can monitor social media feeds, official statements, and news wires simultaneously to identify emerging stories often before human editors. This significantly revolutionizes how breaking news is identified, verified, and distributed.
With continuous advancements in technology, AI systems have become capable of providing real-time analysis that extends to content quality assessment. These systems can examine the credibility of sources, identify potential misinformation, and flag content that may require additional verification.
Explore: Deception and Innovation: The Impact of Deepfake on Social Media and Society
Real-World Examples of AI in News
Let me share a few examples of how AI is revolutionizing news consumption. One of the recent, effective examples is X. People often tag Grok to ask follow-up questions when they experience any trending stories on X (formerly Twitter). This shows how people use an AI chatbot to verify news and even engage in a deeper conversation.
According to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Perplexity.ai and ChatGPT-4o generally provided answers to election-related questions for the UK general election. Its study found that ChatGPT-4o provided correct answers 78% of the time, while Perplexity.ai was accurate 83% of the time.
AI Enhances News Accessibility
AI can improve news accessibility for diverse audiences with real-time translation capabilities. This allows readers to access news content from international sources in their preferred language, lowering traditional barriers to global information access.
AI systems make complex political or economic news accessible to younger readers or those with limited educational backgrounds. This significantly democratizes information for broader audiences. AI-powered visual and audio accessibility features provide automatic captioning for news videos, audio descriptions for images, and text-to-speech capabilities, making written content accessible to visually impaired readers.
Challenges and Concerns of AI in News
With rapid advancement in technology, the number of people using generative AI to consume information and stay up-to-date with the latest news remains low. According to Pew Research, only 2% of people in the US have used ChatGPT-4o for information related to the election (McClain 2024).
Meanwhile, Reuters Institute’s research has shown that about 40% of the population in the UK used a chatbot at least once, where only 22% of those having used it to obtain information.
One of the challenges of AI for news is its transparency and reliability. The question arises whether AI systems can and do provide reliable, up-to-date information. There are also concerns about the homogenization of news consumption.
As AI algorithms become more sophisticated at analyzing, predicting, and delivering what users want to read, there is a risk that important but less engaging stories may receive less attention. This potentially undermines the democratic function of journalism.
Also Read: How AI is Helping Journalists? AI’s Potential in Newsrooms and Reporting
The Future Ahead
With The Associated Press, The Washington Post, and BBC leveraging AI to curate personalized news and reports, the future of AI in Journalism and news becomes more prevalent and bright. The development of technology that can better balance personalization with diversity exposure makes AI systems an important frontier for news.
As we move ahead, AI is not only to replace human reporters but also enable them to work smarter and become better storytellers. The success of AI in news consumption will be measured by engagement metrics or technological sophistication, and its ability to create more informed, engaged, and democratically empowered citizens.
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