How AI is changing journalism and democracy

Fontys Information and Communication Technology
As the daughter of a parliamentary journalist, outgoing State Secretary for Culture and Media, Fleur Gräper-van Koolwijk, is well acquainted with the media. This is evident when she answers questions from students during her visit to Fontys Journalism and ICT in Tilburg. Her vision is clear: journalism is and remains important as society's watchdog.

Nevertheless, the state secretary wants to look further into innovations in journalism and public-private partnerships. Because the media system is currently squeaking and creaking, she admits. Not that, as outgoing State Secretary, she can still make a vital contribution to that, ‘that's up to my successor’.

During five pitches Wednesday morning, she was updated on topics including the use of AI in journalism and the use of virtual humans and democratic renewal.

For example, Fontys ICT lecturer researcher Jeffrey Cornelissen is working with students on an AI prototype that can cover council and committee meetings of municipalities. They are doing this on behalf of DPG Media, because, according to chief editor Tom Hayes of BN deStem, ‘An incredible amount happens at local level. Our journalists cannot keep up and cover everything. An AI tool that covers meetings for us would be a godsend.’

Tom Hayes (l) en Jeffrey Cornelissen (beiden staand) over het AI-prototype. foto's Manon van de Garde

Robotic journalism

How to take into account the tone of voice of a medium, the state secretary asks. ‘We are working on that too,’ says Cornelissen. ‘Still, we will never publish AI articles one-to-one,’ stresses BN deStem's Hayes. ‘For us now, it is mainly important to know whether relevant issues have been discussed in a meeting that we want to publish about.’

Jeroen van de Nieuwenhof, a former Fontys Journalism student and involved in the Journalism and Responsible Innovation lectureship, is working on what he calls ‘robot journalism’. He has developed an automatic reading aid for the low-literate. The software is now running on the websites of several local news organisations.

The project has also spawned cooperation with the municipalities of Eindhoven and Helmond, to make council information accessible to all citizens, for example.

Nice developments, it sounds, but there are also concerns. A first-year Journalism student points out that there are still few guidelines for the media's use of AI. The state secretary recognises the concerns and also thinks frameworks are needed, but from Europe. ‘The European Commission is working hard on this and as soon as these guidelines are known, we too will implement them.’

Watchdog

The concerns are not unjustified, Marnix van Gisbergen's presentation also shows. According to the professor of Digital Media Concepts at Breda University of Applied Sciences, the question is not whether the media will use digital humans, but how we will use them. ‘Because these AI-powered, indistinguishable from real persons are already there and more are coming every day.’

Opinions differ on whether to use digital humans in journalism. Among other things, opponents feel that digital humans are inauthentic, lack personality, are emotionless and do not deserve trust. On the contrary, proponents say they make journalists' work much easier, because you no longer have to send journalists to a location, digital humans are real-time and smart.

According to the state secretary, it is clear that the ‘old’ media no longer exist. This requires a new role for journalists, she thinks. ‘As a result, it is perhaps more important than ever that in a healthy democracy we have a good watchdog.’

Source: Bron.fontys.nl