Oct. 25, 2023 (Bing) -- Newsrooms are using artificial intelligence (AI) in various ways to enhance their journalism and business operations. Some of the common applications of AI in newsrooms are:
- Transcription and editing: AI can help journalists transcribe audio and video recordings faster and more accurately. It can also help them edit their content by suggesting corrections, improvements, or alternatives. For example, Otter.ai1 is a transcription service that works with uploads or in real-time, and Descript1 is a tool for audio and video journalism that allows editing within the site1.
- Monitoring and alerting: AI can help journalists keep track of the latest developments and trends on topics they are interested in. It can also alert them when there are significant changes or updates on the web. For example, Google Alerts1 sends updates whenever webpages, articles, research, and more get changed, and Meltwater1 is a media intelligence platform that monitors online news and social media1.
- Translation and localization: AI can help journalists reach new audiences by translating their content into different languages or adapting it to local contexts. It can also help them access information from sources in other languages. For example, Yle, the Finnish public broadcaster, used AI to translate its stories into Ukrainian to serve the tens of thousands of Ukrainians displaced by the war who had moved to Finland2.
- Personalization and recommendation: AI can help journalists tailor their content to the preferences and interests of their readers. It can also help them increase engagement and retention by recommending stories that are relevant and appealing to their audience. For example, Social Pilot1 is a social media marketing tool that helps newsrooms create personalized posts and schedule them for optimal times1.
- Generation and automation: AI can help journalists create new content or automate repetitive tasks by using natural language generation (NLG) or natural language processing (NLP) techniques. It can also help them fill in gaps or provide context for their stories by using question answering (QA) or summarization methods. For example, Buzzfeed used AI from OpenAI to automate the writing of its quizzes and travel articles3.
There are challenges and risks associated with AI, such as ethical, legal, social, and technical issues. Therefore, newsrooms need to be aware of the potential benefits and pitfalls of AI and develop guidelines and best practices for its use.