AI Does Journalism

🌈 Abstract

The article discusses the author's experience as a student journalist at the University of Illinois' Daily Illini newspaper, and uses this as a case study to examine the biases and challenges in AI-generated journalism.

🙋 Q&A

[01] The Author's Journalism Experience

1. What were some of the author's experiences as a student journalist at the Daily Illini?

• The author was hired as a freshman to work at the Daily Illini, the university's student newspaper.
• The author was able to do various tasks like typing a story over the phone, writing headlines, and covering a local government beat about the Champaign Park District.
• The author quit the newspaper after his first semester, realizing he did not have enough time to balance his journalism work with his engineering coursework.

2. How does the author's experience relate to the biases in AI-generated journalism?

• The author uses their own experience as an example to illustrate how AI systems like ChatGPT and Google's Bard can exhibit biases, similar to how the author's own biases and lack of experience may have influenced their journalism.
• The author suggests that just as they were not qualified to provide analysis and opinions on the park district news they covered, AI systems should stick to reporting facts rather than injecting their own biases and opinions.

[02] Evaluating AI-Generated Journalism

1. How does the article evaluate the bias in the AI-generated summary of the author's park district article?

• The article analyzes the AI-generated summary for potential biases in language, framing, sources, and omissions.
• It notes that the AI summary introduces more subjective language and analysis that was not present in the original article.
• The article suggests the AI summary could have benefited from including a wider range of perspectives beyond just the park district officials.

2. What are the author's views on the "moral clarity" versus "objectivity" debate in journalism?

• The author is critical of the view expressed by some journalists that journalism should operate from a place of "moral clarity" rather than striving for objectivity.
• The author argues that this perspective, which rejects the idea of "both-sides" journalism, is an elite belief that is not shared by the general public who still values objective reporting.
• The author believes that journalists' opinions should be kept separate from their reporting, and belong on the opinion/editorial pages rather than mixed into news coverage.