Writers and AI: Balancing Craft and Collaboration

For my #DCIMCapstone, I’ve done a lot of research on the impact of AI on journalism and communications media. AI is becoming increasingly scary to me. I often talk with my friends about the effects it has on the environment, and the effects it’s had on how we learn. I have never been a supporter, and use AI very sparingly. After entering the world of journalism and communications, it has been increasingly easy for me to spot where writers use AI, and where they do not. I’m worried about credibility, others are worried about expediency. Can’t we do both? I found this article about this exact issue. Give it a read if you have time! https://lnkd.in/eGp2Mgbu

Wired writes "Meet the Tech Reporters Using AI to Help Write and Edit Their Stories - Independent writers are using AI agents all throughout their reporting process. What’s the value of a human journalist, anyway?" https://lnkd.in/e7qqibxA. #artificialintelligence #techreporters #generativeai #aiusage #journalists #aiagents #reportingprocess #wired

Ex-CEO gets suspended for strategic use of tech (or strategic misuse of tech?). Strategic communication and 'errors': real people being misattributed quotes is not 'accidentally misusing a tech tool'. It's outright disinformation. In the same way that schoolyard bullies lie, spread gossip and misinformation about individuals they choose to victimise, professionals should not engage in the same behaviour.

Honestly, I feel for him a little. Being an early adopter can be a trail blazing path. But it's risky as hell if you don't have some common sense and apply guard rails and sense checks to technology you don't fully understand. He was playing with new technology, revolutionary for content creation, but using it utterly irresponsibly.

What’s most interesting is his honest dismay at finding himself doing something that he tells his own staff not to do. Particularly interesting when taken in conjunction with recent research associating AI use with cognitive decline. https://lnkd.in/dp35C4Jm

🚨 Honored to be featured in Communications of the ACM — one of computing's most respected publications. I was asked to share my perspective on - you guessed right - AI & Journalism, together with Nicholas Diakopoulos & Meredith Broussard. One of the observations that I made, as I've been doing research on this topic since 2018, is that before ChatGPT, we called it 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 and journalism, some even 'robot journalism'. After ChatGPT, we just call it 𝘈𝘐. Yes, the labels might have changed, but the fundamental questions haven't. It is important to ask: how much power should we place in AI tools? And what/who determines responsible use of AI? What problem are we trying to solve, and what role should humans and AI have in producing and consuming news? These aren't abstract questions. Newsrooms are making these decisions right now - under financial pressure, moving fast, with enormous consequences for public trust in information. Written by Samuel Greengard. ACM, Association for Computing Machinery, AI, Media and Democracy Lab, Digital Democracy Centre (SDU) Read the full piece here 👇 🔗 https://lnkd.in/euacwQTG #AI #Journalism #GenerativeAI #AIEthics #FutureOfNews #AutomationInMedia #ComputationalJournalism

Grammarly’s ‘Expert Review’ AI tool was meant to offer insights inspired by journalists and authors. Now some of those writers say they never agreed to be part of it, and a lawsuit is taking shape. 🤖 #Grammarly #ExpertReview #Superhuman #Lawsuit #AIWriting https://lnkd.in/gqiuCHWt

Mediahuis suspends Peter Vandermeersch after former Irish boss admits misuse of AI in new role. The Irish Independent has removed recent opinion articles written by the journalist while seeking clarity. ‪Vandermeersch said that some quotes used in newsletter posts and articles he wrote were AI ‘hallucinations’ from AI platforms — including ChatGPT and Perplexity — which he used to generate summaries on issues and topics.‬ https://lnkd.in/dyuNVjtB

According to new reporting by Semafor, the news wire’s product manager for AI strategy Aimee Rinehart embraced her inner “Star Trek” villain by bluntly telling her stuck-in-the-past, pencil-pushing grunts that resistance to AI is “futile.” Reporters, not heeding her warning, rebelled anyway. The internal controversy played out as AP staffers discussed how the Cleveland paper The Plain Dealer embraced using an “AI rewrite specialist” to turn reporters’ field notes into full-blown articles. The paper’s editor had lamented how an intern pulled out of a reporting fellowship after discovering that the position required feeding notes into an AI writing tool instead of writing stories. https://lnkd.in/dSDhGnJ2 #Resistance2AIIsFutile #FeedingNotesIntoAnAIWritingTool #InsteadOfWritingStories

New: AI writing is flooding the internet. I talked to a few tech reporters—largely Substackers without the resources of a major newsroom—who are using AI in thoughtful ways to make their scoops, news analysis, and journalism shine. Thanks to Alex Heath, Jasmine Sun, Casey Newton, Taylor Lorenz, and Kevin Roose for chatting with me for this! https://lnkd.in/duiCrJVX