AI brings journalism back to its mission
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Quang Dieu (Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics), there are three main trends that are directly affecting journalism and media, including: Many new types of devices are emerging; Digital platforms and social networks specializing in audio and video creation are developing explosively; The wave of artificial intelligence - AI.
All three of these trends involve data journalism - a type of journalism that is increasingly asserting its position and role through the digital media environment.
Data journalism and AI journalism are two fields that are becoming increasingly important in the modern journalism industry. Because of their applicability and rapid development thanks to advances in technology and artificial intelligence.
Both use digital tools and technology to provide accurate, detailed and accessible information. This helps journalists save time and focus more on creative aspects, critical thinking, to create high-quality and engaging articles.
Sharing with Lao Dong Newspaper about the application of data journalism and AI technology in journalism activities, Dr. Do Anh Duc - Head of Multimedia Communication Department, Journalism Training Institute (University of Social Sciences & Humanities) said that data journalism is a form of journalism that combines data analysis with traditional reporting.
In it, journalists use digital tools and statistical skills to analyze and present information in depth.
“The information provided must be based on evidence, create highly reliable content and help readers better understand trends and their connections,” Dr. Do Anh Duc summarized, and at the same time gave an assessment that the era of data journalism and AI journalism will have a profound impact on the work of journalists.
The job requires journalists and reporters to change their mindset and approach compared to the old ways and ways of doing things. For example, the birth of Chat GPT - an AI application developed by the American company OpenAI.
Many people in the media and journalism field are concerned that this application is not only a technological revolution but can also replace humans in many fields, especially media and journalism.
“However, future journalists need to focus more on content and depth. And Chat GPT can only act as a tool to look up and provide basic, fundamental information,” Dr. Do Anh Duc emphasized.
According to the Head of the Multimedia Communication Department, Institute of Journalism Training (University of Social Sciences and Humanities), in the near future, readers will demand that the press has more depth, as well as professional ability in providing solutions. It is for this reason that we have recently discussed a lot about "constructive journalism and solution journalism".
Mr. Do Anh Duc believes that currently, domestic newsrooms have recognized and correctly assessed this inevitable trend, in order to orient the development of journalism, it is necessary to return to its mission of leading public opinion in terms of both content depth and social awareness.
“If journalists only provide normal information, reporting purely to readers, sooner or later they will lose their jobs to AI. Because, currently, artificial intelligence tools have done a very good job of this problem” - Dr. Do Anh Duc noted.
The current way of journalism has two aspects: one is event-based journalism and the other is in-depth journalism. In the second aspect, the human element is extremely important, while AI is only for reference.
As for the first aspect, Mr. Duc analyzed, AI cannot intervene, but the person directly working in journalism will record and report, for example, working at a fire, natural disaster or reporting on an important summit.
In general, to keep up with the trends of modern journalism, journalists must constantly equip themselves with and improve their information and knowledge base to have a broad perspective on the issue.
AI cannot replace humans in thinking and creativity.
According to statistics in the Vietnam Press Survey 2023 jointly conducted by the Vietnam Journalists Association (VJA) and the Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA), specifically the Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development (IPS) is the direct implementing unit, on a sample of 177 newspapers and magazines nationwide, of which about 1/4 of press agencies in Vietnam are applying AI in their editorial operations, especially in news production.
Assessing the application of AI in journalism and communication activities, Mr. Nguyen Anh Minh - Data Science Engineer at the Data Analysis Center (Viettel Telecommunications Corporation) said that AI has become a powerful assistant for journalists in data visualization, image analysis, automatic content writing, and news article creation from available data sources.
AI can also aggregate big data from different sources, providing readers with diverse and multi-dimensional news sources.
According to Data Science engineer Nguyen Anh Minh, for journalists to work effectively, Chat GPT is a highly applicable, easy-to-understand and easy-to-use tool.
“In other words, journalists can learn and work from large language models like GPT or Gemini. Basically, these models will answer based on questions. However, we need to learn how to ask the right questions to get the most accurate and standard answers,” explained Data Science engineer Nguyen Anh Minh.
For journalists, the way we ask questions is also a form of professional expertise. Meanwhile, large language models do not represent experts, but operate in a basic way that gives answers based on what they are asked. Therefore, the more detailed and closer the question is to the content we want to search for, the more accurate the answers received from these models will be.
Assessing the limitations of large language models, such as Chat GPT, according to data scientist Nguyen Anh Minh, Chat GPT's answers are often inconsistent and can be wrong if the question is too complex.
Therefore, for journalists, it is very important to learn how to ask standard questions in this language. At the same time, it is necessary to divide the problem and question clearly and focusedly so that AI can understand and give appropriate answers, helping us achieve the best work results.
Especially with current technology, AI cannot yet have the ability to be creative and think uniquely - abilities that are exclusively human. In essence, to create an AI model, researchers can only create a simulation tool based on the data that AI is trained on and available.
So, thinking and creativity are things that AI cannot learn. Even if this model can create videos, photos or text, it is still based on the “input” sources - things that AI has learned.
“For professions like journalism and communications that require creativity and professional thinking, it can be said that artificial intelligence AI cannot replace humans,” data science engineer Nguyen Anh Minh affirmed.
(Posted on the special edition of Labor Weekend Spring At Ty)
