At the center of recent discussions:ChatGPT. Caught between hysteria and fascination, the conversational tool based on artificial intelligence and developed by OpenAI is shaking up the media world. Beyond the fear caused by artificial intelligence (AI), wouldn’t it be interesting to learn how to use it to gain potential benefits?
– “Certainly, here is a short overview of ChatGPT and journalism.
ChatGPT is an advanced language model developed by OpenAI capable of autonomously generating text using language prediction models. With its ability to understand and synthesize complex textual data, ChatGPT has revolutionized the way journalists produce content. Journalists can use ChatGPT to quickly generate brief reports, conduct in-depth research, or analyze data more efficiently. By saving journalists time, ChatGPT allows them to focus on analysis, investigation, and creating more relevant and in-depth content. In short, ChatGPT has become an indispensable tool for journalism professionals, enabling them to produce quality content more quickly and efficiently. »
Although some of the terms used are debatable, for ChatGPT the connection between journalism and artificial intelligence seems clear: it is not a competitive relationship, but rather a collaboration between them. But what do humans, the main stakeholders, think?
To highlight the implications of artificial intelligence for journalism and explore how publishers can adapt, the Pamela Howard Forum on Global Journalism Crises of the ICFJ hosted a webinar. Two speakers discussed the issue: Edith Brou, communications consultant, and Bruno Guglielminetti, journalist and commentator specializing in new technologies and digital media.
For Bruno Guglielminetti the emergence of a conversational agent represents nothing less than the third most important moment in the digital world, after the advent of the PC and the Internet. Until now, searching for information on the Internet required looking through various websites. ChatGPT, on the other hand, directly ingests the content of these websites. Therefore, only a single query to the advanced language model is needed to obtain a summary of content from different sources. Edith Brou highlights “the fascinating nature of experiencing such a historic moment.”
An impact not always negative
Artificial intelligence is therefore establishing itself in our society, and this change will also have consequences in the journalistic world: “… this will inevitably change the situation and the rules of the game,” confides Bruno Guglielminetti. Some “redundant” tasks within newsrooms could be replaced by artificial intelligence. According to the journalist, the world of sports journalism risks being affected, particularly in the transcription of results and the description of matches. On the other hand, field reporting, he believes, is essential: the machine cannot replace this type of journalism, although it can assist with these tasks.
According to Bruno Guglielminetti, it is interesting to use ChatGPT to create a framework on which the journalist will need to return to verify information or even rewrite elements. ChatGPT should not do the journalists’ work, not just because its abilities are limited, but also because it would mark the end of a profession carried out by humans.
Therefore, the journalism sector as a whole does not seem to have to fear AI. Learning to use it in order not to miss the train and to take advantage of the help it can provide to publishers – this is the main challenge that awaits us.
Skills to acquire
Bruno Guglielminetti, during his courses at the University of Quebec, systematically addresses AI, which he considers a new tool at our disposal. A tool that, however, involves risks: “With a hammer you can build things but you can also hit your fingers and destroy things. We have to be careful with what we do with our tools, understand what we can do, but also see the risks that this can entail.”
It is interesting to draw a parallel with the time when the Internet entered newsrooms. The only station connected to the Internet gave journalists the impression of having access to a press network. However, this was not at all true, since information from the Internet, unlike that from a press agency, is not verified by professionals.
Therefore, there was a whole training process necessary for a generation of journalists regarding the information available on the Internet. Today, according to Bruno Guglielminetti, we need to proceed in the same way with journalists and AI; they must be taught how to use it and to identify its positive and negative sides. This will allow journalists to avoid being overtaken and becoming victims of artificial intelligence.
In practical terms, it is interesting to discover how ChatGPT works, both for experienced journalists and those in training. Training can therefore take place in universities – as happens for Bruno Guglielminetti’s students – or directly in newsrooms. Similarly, training on ChatGPT has been offered in schools as well. Edith Brou goes further and emphasizes that you can also learn on your own: “If you can take a little time each day to learn to use these tools in your work, you’ll already be ahead.”
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