{"id":758,"date":"2024-05-30T19:25:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T19:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/?p=758"},"modified":"2024-06-21T15:28:30","modified_gmt":"2024-06-21T15:28:30","slug":"youre-gonna-be-left-behind-keynote-speaker-beckett-urges-newsrooms-to-keep-up-with-rapid-ai-developments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/2024\/05\/30\/youre-gonna-be-left-behind-keynote-speaker-beckett-urges-newsrooms-to-keep-up-with-rapid-ai-developments\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You\u2019re gonna be left behind&#8217; \u2014 Keynote speaker Beckett urges newsrooms to keep up with rapid AI developments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In Polis founder Charlie Beckett\u2019s keynote speech at a Carleton University-hosted roundtable on Thursday, he delivered something of a challenge to journalism&#8217;s position as gatekeeper of the news in the new age of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s this myth in journalism that news is in itself valuable commercially,\u201d Beckett said. \u201cIt\u2019s not. It\u2019s always been subsidized. It\u2019s always been about people having a habit of news consumption and finding it informationally useful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Journalism &amp; AI roundtable: Keynote by Charlie Beckett\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fRJdaSi-jYg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Beckett, who is leading the Polis JournalismAI project at the London School of Economics, explained that the Internet and more recently the advent of AI have increasingly opened up new competition to the once-unchallenged work of news organizations. Beckett said this means newsrooms need to think harder about the needs of their audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis starting point we have is that journalism is somehow a national park and should be funded,\u201d Beckett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beckett said the onus is on journalists to innovate using AI rather than sit on the sidelines as tech companies continue to push out competing content and make traditional news media obsolete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe only solution is to go back and ask yourself, \u2018Why would anybody want to consume your journalism?\u2019\u201d Beckett said. \u201cThen build your appropriate model around that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cAI works best \u2026 when you\u2019re thinking about the reader all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014 Charlie Beckett, director of JournalismAI project at Polis<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Beckett and journalist and data scientist Nikita Roy, who spoke earlier in the day at the Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto, AI is particularly adept at helping journalists realize their audiences\u2019 demands.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAI works best \u2026 when you\u2019re thinking about the reader all the time,\u201d Beckett said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, British journalist and author Sophia Smith Galer created an AI tool called Sophina, which helps users create viral video scripts. Beckett explained that her program is very personal and specific to her audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6209-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-766\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6209-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6209-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6209-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6209-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6209-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Charlie Beckett&#8217;s talk drew laughter from the audience at times, including a joke about journalists grumbling about the advent of AI after a string of other industry woes \u2014 and crappy pay. [Photo \u00a9 Angel Xing]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For all the wonders of AI, Beckett acknowledged the risks attached to the new tech. He broke down the risks as technical, ethical, cultural and managerial challenges. AI has given rise to new forms of disinformation and propaganda that actively undermine news media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, he said the obstacles associated with AI are always human-caused. The same tools that allow false and harmful information to spread can also be used to fight them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou always have to remember that any disinformation you see has originally been created by a human being,\u201d Beckett said. \u201cAI doesn\u2019t wake up in the morning and say, \u2018I\u2019m gonna create some fake news.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For skeptics of AI, Beckett likened the advent of artificial intelligence to the early beginnings of the Internet. He noted that the first newspaper in the world to go online, the <em>Columbus Dispatch<\/em>, launched on July 1, 1980, far before audiences followed. There was still a lot to figure out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Beckett made it clear that AI is advancing much more rapidly than the Internet did in the 1980s. Newsrooms will be forced to adapt or risk falling by the wayside.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think there is a leadership issue here around setting the right culture so people feel more comfortable around (AI),\u201d said Beckett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said newsrooms are very aware of AI and intend on utilizing it more in the future, but there\u2019s a hesitancy to adopt it immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a real sense of St. Augustine\u2019s \u2018make me virtuous but not yet O Lord.\u2019 It\u2019s kind of, \u2018Yes, this is great, we\u2019re looking at it,\u2019 but they really are holding back,\u201d Beckett said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6183-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6183-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6183-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6183-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6183-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/IMG_6183-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Polis\/LSE JournalismAI project director Prof. Charlie Beckett delivers the keynote address at Journalism &amp; Artificial Intelligence: An Industry Roundtable, held May 30, 2024 in Toronto. The event, organized by Carleton University&#8217;s School of Journalism and Communication, was held on the eve of the Canadian Association of Journalists annual conference and awards gala. [Roundtable News Team]<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Beckett said the initial aversion to AI often stems from the fear of not having the technical know-how. But he argued generative AI has evolved to become so accessible and user-friendly that there is no excuse for journalists not to integrate it into their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier, Roy had identified 20 easy ways journalists can implement AI in their journalism right now, including generating headlines, visualizing data, transcribing interviews, analyzing images and converting articles to videos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8216;In the info world in the next five to 10 years, if you are not using these systems and tools, you are just going to be like the person who has never been on social media. Good luck to you, but you\u2019re gonna be left behind.&#8217;<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014 Charlie Becket, keynote speaker, Journalism &amp; Artificial Intelligence: An Industry Roundtable<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>That being said, Beckett urges journalists not to use AI just for the sake of not being left behind. Beckett said journalists must experiment and collaborate across industries other than their own to determine what works and can be replicated in other situations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a best-case scenario, Beckett said his \u201cbig hope\u201d for AI in journalism is that it can liberate journalists from their most laborious tasks, such as transcribing, creating alt text and SEO optimization, enabling humans to worry about more creative tasks and specialization, such as identifying trends and human interest stories in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sooner or later, Beckett said he believes AI will become the next step in the continuum of inevitable technological innovation, akin to the rise of the Internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn the info world in the next five to 10 years, if you are not using these systems and tools, you are just going to be like the person who has never been on social media,\u201d Beckett said. \u201cGood luck to you, but you\u2019re gonna be left behind.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Polis founder Charlie Beckett\u2019s keynote speech at a Carleton University-hosted roundtable on Thursday, he delivered something of a challenge to journalism&#8217;s position as gatekeeper of the news in the new age of artificial intelligence. \u201cI think there\u2019s this myth in journalism that news is in itself valuable commercially,\u201d Beckett said. \u201cIt\u2019s not. It\u2019s always &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=758"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":921,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758\/revisions\/921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/journalism-and-AI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}