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I attended a conference recently with other editors and leaders of business journals and business magazines (there truly is a conference for everything!) that included sessions about news gathering as well as sales, events and audience engagement.
But the most interesting thing at this Alliance of Area Business Publishers event in Detroit were the sessions about artificial intelligence—specifically generative AI, which refers to the use of algorithms that can generate content based on large data sets of information.
Chatbots like ChatGPT and art creators like DALL-E are examples of generative AI. These types of algorithms use information fed into them or scraped from millions of pieces of information, images, writings and other sources to produce new content based on queries from users.
The AABP sessions focused on how different divisions of our media companies—including circulation, sales, events and, yep, even the newsroom—could use these AI tools to do our work better and more efficiently.
For a journalist, that is a scary conversation. AI can be used to create content that is misleading, inaccurate and even totally fabricated. There are countless examples of chatbots that “hallucinate” information and present it as fact.
But there are fantastic examples as well of how to use AI in a responsible way, whether that’s by using it to analyze large amounts of data, transcribe recordings or help create graphics. One key, said Mike Reilley, founder of Journalist’s Toolbox, is to treat AI as you do any other reporting tool or technique. In other words, you don’t create that graphic until you’ve fully vetted the information. Don’t use quotes from an AI transcript until you’ve double-checked them. Just like you don’t use information that pops up on Google until you’ve researched its origin, you don’t use information discovered using AI until you’re sure it’s accurate.
At IBJ, we’re just beginning to think about how we might use AI for some of the work we do. We’re not using it to write stories—and have no plans to do so. And while we haven’t used it to create art or develop graphics, we might someday—but we’ll disclose what we’re doing and what tools we’ve used.
We know we’re not alone in our exploration. Across industries, there are companies that have fully embraced chatbots and other generative AI tools to help them analyze information, respond to customers, produce content and develop images, illustrations and more. Other companies are, like IBJ’s newsroom, cautiously exploring the options.
We want to know about all of those experiences. We’re going to create a survey soon to learn more about how companies, leaders, creators and others are using generative AI and what those leaders and creators think about the technology.
In the meantime, though, we’d love to hear your thoughts about AI in general. What are you worried about? What are the opportunities? What tools are most helpful? Do you fear AI could take your job? Do you fear AI tools are stealing your content? Do you think AI could put you of business? Or do you think AI will help your business grow and expand?
Email us at AIsurvey@ibj.com and tell us your story. What you tell us over the next week will help us shape the survey we’re sending out.
And as we evolve our AI use in the IBJ newsroom, we’ll keep you informed about that, too.•
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Weidenbener is editor of IBJ. Email her at lweidenbener@ibj.com.
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