Journalism and artificial intelligence, is the profession in danger?

In the attention to the public, the distribution of packages, in the learning of languages ​​...That the robots have exceeded those typical mechanical professions and industrialization processes is a real reality.A context in that we can not stop talking about the so-called Artificial Intelligence, a type of systems that have even begun to be used for more creative purposes.

It is the case of the AIs used in the field of journalism to write stories.An application that has been viewed with great suspicion in the sector, but also outside it; and a debate in which issues as varied as the danger of the profession, ethics, the selection of news and a long etcetera that we analyze next come into play.

The starting point

Thus and although we find cases that go back much further , the matter has returned to the informative leap during the last months of the hand of the failures starring the trending topics selection algorithm from Facebook, and also from Heliograf, a very special new "journalistic brain.

And although in this first one we will focus a few lines later, it is worth mentioning that the second was responsible for writing the news related to the Rio Olympics in the Washington Post, an Artificial Intelligence that aroused a great controversy, but whose use, according to the director of digital projects of the newspaper, Jeremy Gilbert, was focused on " giving greater freedom to reporters " and allowing them to work on analysis and other more complex articles.

However, his decision was not exempt from controversy, especially since the media insisted on perfecting the style and writing so that readers could not differentiate who had written that, something that other publications have also been making for some time and which has resulted in more complete bots .

"They don't just take the data and fill in the blanks in a template.They have the ability to analyze the data and find out what things are important, the most interesting, and can draw a very compelling story, Martin recently commented.Ford, author of The Rise of the Robots, in NPR.

Nothing new

As we pointed out, the use of such systems is not just a matter of the Washington Post, but there are similar examples that date even from 2012.It was then that Forbes magazine "ficho" a robot journalist to write and tweet and began to sign his articles as "Narrative Science ".

The creation of this software-developed by the University of Northwestern and that already prevented readers from noticing the difference -dates back even to 2010.Almost seven years that have not prevented that it remains a hot and worrying issue; and a field in which other media have also dared to enter.

LosAngeles Times is one of them.In particular, it opts for the algorithms to produce reports on local earthquakes with information from the United States Geological Survey; some documents that are published on its website only three minutes after the phenomenon occurred.However, it is not the only section "run" by robots, but Data Desk is another one of them.Now it is necessary to emphasize that it is a data-centric category.Crime alerts in Los Angeles neighborhoods are also written in such a way.

The Associated Press uses, for its part, an automated insights technology called Wordsmith for corporate earnings stories; a system that has also been used by giants of the likes of Yahoo.A first steps that took place in late 2014 and early 2015.

Here it is also worth highlighting the automated accounts or Twitter bots , which have become a regular in full growth in the microblogging platform, which deserves to be mentioned in this context.The reason? That it is a tool usually used by journalists to keep up to date of the hot topics of the network.

The case of Facebook

Previously we referred to the case of Facebook and the problems that are derived from its new system of automatic selection of hot topics .The matter goes back to the month of May this year, when the multinational was immersed in a tremendous polemic after one of its former workers He accused of having to eliminate conservative tones from his Trending Topics.The section, so that we understand each other, worked since 2014 in only a few countries and based his selection on an algorithm.However, the final decision to highlight them was a matter of humans.Precisely those who accused Zuckerberg of partisanship and manipulation.And although initially he defended himself with cape and sword, it was not long in changing his management to "minimize the risks" in which he intervened human judgment, stable with additional controls and leaving out the lists of external websites.

A few weeks later, however, he decided to do something more radical : put an end to the entire team of workers (a total of 18) and opt for an automatic system that didn't end the problems either.In fact, numerous false news leaked, both from the Republican and the Democratic side.

In fact and after the result of the US elections , there were many who accused the social network of having influenced the opinion of the voters.If we consider that 90% of them It is reported through this community, it does not seem so far-fetched although, obviously, the idea is that the reader is able to discern what is true and what is not.

Does the profession migrate?

At this point-and in a context in which, According to a study by CaixaBank, up to 43% of the work in Spain has a high risk of being automated in the medium term-it is worth asking: is the profession of journalists in danger? To answer this question we have turned to the Dean of Journalism of the Cardenal Herrera CEU University, Elias Duran de Porras .

"The profession has always been threatened by different circumstances.The radio, television...felt like this, something linked to the appearance of new channels, [...] but these are just this: new channels" , comments.Duran de Porras also refers to the elaboration of impartial news , which is merely related to the facts by the bots, something that, as he indicates, "would not be negative in the beginning".

However, it goes a bit further: "In reality people do not want to consume that kind of content , but what they are looking for is rather interpretation.And that is where the bots would not arrive "." The key functions of the work, which are those of selecting, ranking, valuing and offering the information, it will be necessary for people to continue [...].However, professionals must acquire new skills and abilities ".

Regarding the selection and consolidation of the Zuckerberg social network, he points out that cases like his "have shown that it cannot be [...].It is also very dangerous because in theory a journalist must always be guided by ethics and take into account your social responsibility when it comes to informing.And that a bot, a priori, does not ".

In addition, it highlights the problems that implies that they collect information "from non-contrasted media", as well as that they hide certain news."The problem is not in presenting news but in hiding others ".However, it does not lose sight of the fact that" people need to identify themselves."To avoid this, bet on traditional channels and specialized media.

Where AI has a place in Journalism

Having said that, the truth is that some AIs are great help in this framework.We are referring to your use, for example, in the analysis of large amounts of data (Big Data).This application gives journalists additional time to analyze the context of the news and prevents failures typical of productive routines. alerts and notifications Smart , able to detect news that is happening around us are another useful application.

In any case, it is not necessary to go so far: The automatic selection made by certain tools such as those mentioned can be a "perfect system to know what people are talking about and react to false news and similar, "says the dean, who also compares social networks with the traditional squares of the town and casinos in which the current affairs of the day were discussed.

In the medium term, the conversational bots could also be accommodated as a way of informing themselves-it is likely that the different newspapers launch their own, in the same way they did with the applications-an evolution that , according to experts, will tend to personalize the consumer experience.

Final considerations

In any case and returning to our starting point, the truth is that Journalism is a profession that, for some time, has its own capital sins.A problems among which political influence, lack of contrasting sources, sensationalism and even short-term vision.Curiously, many of them coincide with those attributed to the implantation of bots in this field.

Having said that, the truth is that its popularization in the journalistic field is only part of an evolution. A change that will still have to settle down to allow, as Duran de Porras comments, "the development of gender more perfectly "; and in which the improvement of AI in themselves, the adaptation of the professional-towards profiles focused on programming-, and the reaction of citizens will be key.

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