German publisher Axel Springer says journalists could be replaced by AI
Journalists are at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, the CEO of German media group Axel Springer has said.
The announcement was made as the publisher sought to boost revenue at German newspapers Bild and Die Welt and transition to becoming a “purely digital media company”. It said job cuts lay ahead, because automation and AI were increasingly making many of the jobs that supported the production of their journalism redundant.
“Artificial intelligence has the potential to make independent journalism better than it ever was – or simply replace it,” CEO Mathias Doepfner said in an internal letter to employees.
AI tools like the popular ChatGPT promise a “revolution” in information, he said, and would soon be better at the “aggregation of information” than human journalists.
“Understanding this change is essential to a publishing house’s future viability,” said Doepfner. “Only those who create the best original content will survive.”
Axel Springer did not specify how many of its staff could be cut, but promised that no cuts would be made to the number of, “reporters, authors, or specialist editors”.
In his letter to staff, Doepfner said media outlets must focus on investigative journalism and original commentary, while divining the “true motives” behind events would remain a job for journalists.
Axel Springer is not the first news publisher to toy with the use of AI in its content creation. In January, BuzzFeed announced it planned to use artificial intelligence to “enhance” its content and online quizzes.
The published of the UK’s Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers is also exploring the use of AI, setting up a working group to look at “the potential and limitations of machine-learning
Read more on theguardian.com
