The progressive approach to technology underpins the acknowledgement of every new advancement for the betterment of human civilisation, but we must be extra cautious when the very advancement threatens the existence of what it feeds on. The context is World News Day, which falls on September 28th and is being observed this year at a time when journalism is existentially threatened by generative AI. The first casualty wrought by the onslaught of generative AI bots is the loss of trust. “This is the paradox of our age. The most connected societies in history are also among the most vulnerable to confusion, manipulation and distrust,” says the op-ed ‘The Integrity Dividend’ by David Whimsley, President, World Editors Forum.
Phil Chetwynd, Global News Director, AFP, labels the utopian future of AI as another so-called ‘news agency killer’ in his op-ed ‘Dystopia, Inc’, available on the World News Day organisation’s website, and reproduces an ironical question: “Why pay for your professional journalism when information is being delivered free in real time? Why waste money employing journalists to gather information that can be aggregated by our new chatbot friends?” He himself demystifies the fad of AI: “Part of the answer lies in the little chatbot disclaimer which says the information in your AI overview may actually be wrong.”
He narrates how global news agencies deployed their journalists to gather the first-hand information of the flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border this August. All the authentic information and visuals came from news agencies like AFP, Reuters and AP. But then what followed was the digital deluge of deepfake images emotionally manipulating the viewers with ‘artificially generated destroyed villages and bodies lined up for burial’.
