We are aware of robot technologies such as the Roomba vacuum robot that can sweep your floor for you, self check out stations at Walmart and now CVS that take the place of a cashier, and factory robots that can assemble faster than human employees. However, there is a new type of robot technology impacting our world of media and that is robotically constructed news stories.
What is AI?
This technology is known as AI, or artificial intelligence, different from natural intelligence that we associate with humans and animals. Artificial intelligence is evident through machines, while natural intelligence comes from consciousness and emotional intelligence.
More and more often today we are seeing news platforms release articles that lack structure and content. They tend to be bland and more data based, and more than likely do not even include an author's name. In these cases it is easy to assume that the publisher used a robot to generate the story. These new types of robot reporting programs are being used in several different ways. As stated above, some publications are using them to create data filled content. Others, such as Forbes, are using them to provide their journalists with a first draft of the story to use as a template to start. Below is an example of an AI generated story.
How will this impact journalists?
Some are obviously concerned about the impacts this could be having on the positions of journalists. If this new automated reporting technology could be as advanced as the creative journalists, then the employment of these journalists could be on the line. To save money, news publications could turn to the robots to cut wage costs out. Unfortunately this became a reality in June of 2020 when Microsoft let go of 50 journalists to cut costs, switching to AI systems instead for the tedious data and details. Attached is the short story of Microsoft's decision including employee responses to being let go.
Still, it is a beneficial tactic for companies using them as story templates. These news outlets say that it allows their reporters more time to concentrate on the content and story-telling behind an article rather than the fact-checking and research.
AI and SEO
As of now, Google's SEO algorithm can separate out the AI generated news stories from the human generated ones. Google's algorithm takes into account human voice and journalist language, and AI is unable to match this yet. The current SEO achieved by AI system news stories is through match summaries, business reports, and other data based stories like those. It is a concern, however, that these AI systems will one soon be able to disguise themselves as human-written stories by capturing real human voice effects in writing.
How does this relate to me?
You might be asking, what does this have to do with me? And the answer is, not much unless you plan to persue a journalism position in the future. It is more so just something you should be aware of. For PR professionals, marketing specialists, and other positions of that nature, this new technology coming into play can serve as motivation to remain true to your brands you've created and maintained, and continue to produce genuine content for your audiences. People read the news and other forms of written stories for a lot of reasons, but they do so under the impression that the information was communicated by a professional or informed person on the subject. Below are a few tips for remaining authentic in your writing.
Be yourself
practice your craft
Challenge yourself- write about what you know, but also explore new topics
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