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Practical AI Podcast Special: Lessons from local media
We’ve been working on our Practical AI report and this special podcast episode for several weeks, and it was really interesting to listen back to the interviews I did at the beginning of the project. Talking to people who are actually using AI in their daily operations was crucial for me to be able to cut through the hype that has grown up around generative AI.
There’s nothing quite like actually using a new technology to bring a sense of realism to the game-changing promises that inevitably precede its adoption. I was grateful for the honesty of our interviewees around the nuts and bolts of developing AI tools that delivered real value. Each of them spoke about the hard work needed to bring the AI up to speed.
This, more than anything else, gives me hope that publishers will figure out how to position AI as a complement to their reporters and editors, rather than replace them. AI shortcuts to quicker copy have already been exposed as problematic, but the hard work of iteration and continuous development is paying real rewards. The bean counters might try to save money with robots, but my money is on the value staying with the reporters.
Can journalism resist a chatbot-fueled race to the bottom?
Yes, but only if it wants to, and this long read takes an interesting look at the potential pitfalls and possible remedies from publishers that don’t want to engage in that downward spiral. Media professor David Karpf says in the piece: “The best publications… are going to be rewarded by producing better work than the folks who are going fast and cheap with chatbots.” Here’s hoping.
BuzzFeed to launch podcast series in partnership with Acast
BuzzFeed has announced that it will be launching a slate of new podcast series in partnership with independent podcast company Acast, with the first show coming from its food network Tasty. Bite Club premieres on the 18th of April, and will be the first of six weekly podcasts to launch as part of the partnership.
Five tips for launching a media startup
Rawan Jayousi is a woman journalist from the Middle East who has witnessed the critical need for independent media in the region. She believes the startup culture prevalent in the tech world can be replicated in journalism – spurring on the creation of new digital media enterprises and platforms for underrepresented voices, giving the news ecosystem a much-needed boost. In this piece for ICFJ Knight Media Innovators, she outlines some tips for getting that startup…started.
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