A Word About AI

This week, I received an email from a news consortium with the subject line, “Does your newsroom have an AI policy?” I do not, and I realized we, collectively, are at a stage where every newsroom needs to have one.

AI is a part of our lives, whether we like it or not. When it relates to reporting, people have a right to know how it is used. I want to share what goes on at MVE.

So, first question-

Have I used generative AI to write any of my articles?

No, I have not. I have written and continue to write all of my articles and newsletters.

Have I used generative AI to edit any of my articles?

No, I have not. I edit all of my articles. All mistakes are attributable to me.

Have I used AI anywhere as it relates to MVE?

I use my iphone to record interviews. The iphone transcribes but does not summarize or analyze the conversation. I relisten to the interview to make sure it was accurately transcribed. Most of it usually is, but a significant portion is not. It requires relistening, sometimes several times, to get it right. Right now, it takes me as long as a regular article to write. The one hour interview with Sheriff Barcus took more than a day on my end to turn into an article.

In the past, I have used generative AI to make cartoons. The captions for the cartoons include the website used to generate it.

If I’m feeling stuck, I use AI to help me come up with a headline for an article. Sometimes it provides inspiration and I come up with my own, other times it’s an amalgamation of headlines generated by AI, and sometimes, but rarely, it’s a perfect fit.

When looking for information, AI generated material pops up first on my search engine. I verify with direct sources and include hyperlinks in articles so people can directly view the original source material for themselves.

Has anyone else at MVE used AI in reporting?

I was aware of one person using it in the past, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it at the time. Right now, I’m leaning against using it.

Do I see a place where AI can be used in reporting?

Yes, I do. In some news deserts, where there is no one to report on anything, town council meetings can be transcribed and summarized by AI. (Frankly, any meeting can.) For some communities, that is the only “reporting” they have. If given an AI synopsis, I would probably use it as a starting point, not the end point for an article.

I believe all generative AI articles should be labeled as such.

What do I think about AI?

People hire humans to get a job done. AI helps get the job done, but it doesn’t eliminate supervision and accountability.

Can AI take my voice and generate articles?

Maybe.

I’m reminded of Odette and Odile in Swan Lake. It’s always performed by the same ballerina. Odile beguiles the prince into forgetting Odette, until the prince realizes Odile isn’t Odette.

Sure, AI can pretend to be anyone, but there’s a law in physics that two things can’t occupy the same space. There is only one of each. Hopefully, someone figures out who’s who.

What would happen if AI took over as the main news source?

News would become much cheaper to produce but I’m not sure it would be as interesting. You get what you pay for.

Will I have an AI policy for MVE?

Yes, I will. I just don’t know what it is yet. I could ask AI, but being old school, I’ll be participating in a webinar on this topic with other newsrooms at the end of May.

Where can you contact me if you have additional questions?

The contact page.

This article was updated to reflect the use of AI for creating headlines. Its use occurred to this writer after the article was published. The headline for this article was not generated by AI.