How to Strike a Balance Between Tech and Humans in the Newsroom

The AI revolution is impacting all industries across the globe. From finance to the supply chain, to retail, countless organizations are finding ways to gradually integrate advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, into the workflow to streamline their processes and enhance productivity.

The newsroom is no different – as reporters, public relations and marketing professionals, and news editors and distributors will tell you, the turn to AI and other forms of technology have completely transformed the news industry. In a recent study from The Associated Press amongst individuals in the news industry, 73.8% of those surveyed indicated that they or their organization have already used generative AI in some capacity, and it’s a number that’s sure to grow.

At Business Wire, we recognize the importance of this new generative technology. Our own newsroom editors and technology experts continue to evaluate the best tools to streamline news production and workflows. However, our point of view is clear: the role of the human editor is more critical than ever before. To ensure newsrooms are striking the perfect balance between reaping the benefits of technology, and ensuring humans are involved in the process, organizations can consider the following tips to guide their efforts:

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Leverage technology to expedite and streamline manual processes, rather than a substitute for everyday work.  

However, just because AI is capable of being used for all these tasks does not indicate that it should be used for all of them. Whereas previously the editorial process could take a significant amount of time to account for writing, editing, and researching and gathering data, this effort can be substantially shortened as a result of new AI technology. This includes streamlining the editorial process through the automation of routine tasks, enhancing data accuracy, and even providing an extra hand if there’s a shortage in the newsroom to help with drafting copy. However, just because AI is capable of being used for all these tasks does not indicate that it should be used for all of them.

It’s important to identify the areas in the new reporting process where AI can augment productivity and aid the workflow, rather than replace workers and perform their activities. AI, for instance, will be particularly resourceful for time-consuming tasks, such as conducting research and identifying emerging trends. Allowing AI to handle these more repetitive tasks will give back time to reporters and newsroom staff to focus on other more pressing tasks that require their attention. In turn, this will create a more productive and streamlined work environment.

Provide humans a larger role in the review process to ensure responsible and thoughtful oversight of these technologies.

As necessary as these advances in technology are, they can’t make up for one thing: the human element. Even if technology helps to improve productivity and efficiency within the newsroom, it cannot beat having a human on the other side to ensure total accuracy. And as AI continues to take hold in the professional world, it’s going to be more important than ever to have humans present to ensure everything flows smoothly.

It’s a common misperception that as AI is folded into the workflow, the role of humans will largely diminish or be seen as nonessential. Make no mistake – as the role of technology increases, so does the role of humans. To ensure these advanced technologies are running smoothly, efficiently, and with minimal risk of potential bias or hallucinations, as AI can at times suffer from, there need to be humans tasked with oversight.

What does this mean for the newsroom? As AI becomes introduced and relied on to feed information pertaining to data, trends, and other research activities, it will become vital for reporters and newsroom staff to review and supervise these technologies to best determine what to do with the information they generate. This greatly reduces the likelihood of any erroneously produced outputs and allows reporters the relief of knowing whatever information they will share with the public has been fact-checked and proofed by a reputable source.

Establish the right guidelines and rules in place to ensure technology and humans can work harmoniously and fairly. 

Lastly, a helpful tip for newsrooms and organizations to consider is to establish a set of rules and guidelines, to ensure reporters, editors, and other staff are using technology in a way that is not only effective and productive, but responsible, safe, and cost-effective. Some large media organizations have already put such resources in place. A plan like this would include how to responsibly utilize AI technologies and for which tasks, how to do so in a way that does not compromise journalistic integrity, ethics, or organizational safety and security, and could even establish who is allowed to utilize AI.

A structured, organized set of guidelines established early on will ensure that humans and AI technologies are on a level playing field and that both parties can rely on one another to promote efficacy and productivity.

As we’re moving towards a technologically advanced world, it will be critical to assess which scenarios the involvement of a human is essential to maintain integrity and authenticity of work. The newsroom will remain a place where technology, human expertise, and judgment meet to ensure accurate, reliable, and trustworthy information.

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