Despite initial apprehension about implementing generative AI, publishers are warming up to its benefits. As such, 2024 will see the AI debate shift from pondering its threats to deliberating how to integrate it into newsrooms, predicts FT Strategies manager Aliya Itzkowitz.
Many media leaders initially approach AI from “a place of fear”, says Aliya.
She was part of a presentation panel from FT Strategies at a recent Mx3 AI event in London. FT Strategies is a strategic growth consultancy that helps news providers transform and create sustainable value. Aliya was previously responsible for expanding the use of AI in newsrooms across the EMEA region for the artificial intelligence company Dataminr.
‘A place of fear’
Aliya spoke to Mx3 shortly after the off-the-record presentation to 100 media delegates, sharing lessons learned from a series of AI-in-media workshops with publishers and editors from around the world during 2023. She says media leaders’ approach towards AI from “a place of fear” is understandable.
Most primary concerns revolve around job security and potential repercussions if AI initiatives go wrong. “People’s minds immediately go to jobs, right? What’s going to happen to my job or reputation? What could happen if we get this wrong?”
Yet, from Aliya’s experience working with newsrooms, discussing those fears soon evolves into conversations about how to explore the potential of AI. “The first thing we do (in workshops) is we try to hear people out. (We ask) what are the risks that you are mindful of? And how can we mitigate those risks? Then we also show them, through very practical experimentation, how this technology can help them.”
Shaking things up
Very soon into this process, people started to think about AI in terms of what it could do for their workflow and operations. Even those organisations that already use AI for more mundane practices such as churn modelling are now moving towards implementing AI in the newsroom, “using it in areas that touch more directly on journalism and the product. That’s what’s shaking everything up”.
And it’s not only large publishers starting to take AI more seriously. While many FT Strategy clients are indeed large publishers looking at building in-house solutions through AI, Aliya explains, smaller newsrooms are also “getting things off the ground” and are even “a bit more nimble” in their approach.
How will AI do it for us?
She predicts that 2024 will see fewer newsrooms question what AI can do for them and “rather ask how AI should be implemented”.
“There’s an explosion of (AI) tools right now in the market in general. So I do think the conversation is going to move away from what can AI do for us. The focus is probably going to shift more into how will AI do it for us.”
Aliya expects the proliferation of AI tools in the market to create a shift to deliberating how AI should be effectively integrated. This is why the AI conversation will now progress to people starting to have “very real conversations” about topics like the cost of building AI tools versus the cost of employing external AI providers. That is why questions around AI will become much more practical as news executives start asking questions about the tools they need to implement AI solutions.
- Watch highlights of our interview with Aliya Itzkowitz below.
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